The Characterization of the Romanian Circular Economy’s Potential, at County Level

Abstract

The complexity of the challenges faced by the world economy over the past decades is a clear indication that the linear economic model that starts with the exploitation of resources and ends with the disposal of waste is almost reaching its limits. These limitations are obvious in the following areas: resource exploitation, environment, economic added value of a unit of consumed resource, and also on the labour market. Under these circumstances, the circular economy model, which provides feasible solutions for all of these areas where the linear economic model shows its limitations, becomes an alternative to be taken into account. Although these challenges are global in nature, it is obvious that a functional global circular economy can be built incrementally starting from the interconnection of national circular economies that rely on interconnected regional circular economies. Using this hypothesis, in this paper we propose an indicator that can be used for a multi-criteria evaluation of the potential for developing a circular economy at national level, for the case of Romania. Our proposed approach allows the assessment of the county's potential based on a six-dimensional indicator and on 16 individual variables, built on a methodology similar to the one used for the indicator measuring the potential of an economy to attract foreign direct investment proposed by UNCTAD (United Nations Conference on Trade and Development) in WIR2012 (World Investment Report 2012). Thus, using the 16 variables collected for the period 2008-2014, the circular economy potential indicator was calculated based on the NIS and NTRO databases. Among the most important empirical results are the identification of the concentration poles, which, in 2014, are represented by the city of Bucharest and by the counties: Brăila, Constanta, Mureş, Alba, Sibiu and Maramureş and the identification of areas with low potential, which are Oltenia, Muntenia and the central and north-eastern area of Moldova.

Toward a Circular Economy in the Toy Industry: The Business Model of a Romanian Company

“…This is consistent with the findings of Rizo et al [74], who wrote that access to adequate source funding is essential for firms aiming for a transition to the circular economy. Studies [6,8,75] that presented the stage of adoption of the circular economy in Romania confirmed the existence of these problems, which the analyzed company also faces, such as the need for external financial support and facing the lack of any form of advice, support, and assistance from governmental institutions.…”

“…The adoption of a circular economy in Romania was characterized as modest and frail [6]; thus, it encountered a theoretical and cultural/behavioral barrier for consumers and companies. Most of the SMEs (small-and-medium-sized enterprises) from Romania identified the lack of human resources and the lack of expertise as the main barriers to adopting a circular economy [7,8].…”

Indicators for a circular economy in a regional context: an approach based on Wielkopolska region, Poland

“…A mult–criteria assessment of the potential for the development of a closed-loop economy at county level was proposed by Strat et al (Strat et al 2018 ). Based on a comprehensive six-dimensional index built on 16 individual variables, the potential for CE in Romanian regions was described.…”

Implementing circular economy in a regional context: A systematic literature review and a research agenda

“…However, this categorisation is not consistently used nor defined across the scientific community. Despite the inconsistency of the main levels of implementation, the regional level of CE adoption started emerging in the literature (Avdiushchenko and Zajaç, 2019;Vanhamaki et al, 2019;Aranda-Usón et al, 2018;Avdiushchenko, 2018;Strat et al, 2018). Barbero and Pallaro (2018) argues that regions, henceforth level 2 of the EU Nomenclature of Territorial Units for Statistics (NUTS 2) is used when referring to European regions, have a pivotal role in supporting the implemention of EU and national strategies, laws and regulations and coordinating local actors.…”

“…More importantly, they have deep knowledge and understanding of their local territories, their capacities, and potential, which puts them in the most favourable position for establishing appropriate framework conditions, enforcing targeted policies, mobilising regional stakeholders, and boosting synergies between various economic sectors (Barbero and Pallaro, 2018). According to Strat et al (2018), the regional circular economy (RCE), is the foundation stone of a functional global CE. To ensure the worldwide implementation of the CE, national interrelated CEs must be in place, but they can be constructed incrementally only if interconnected regional CEs are established.…”