ANALYSIS OF THE EXPERIENCE OF IMPLEMENTING THE PRINCIPLES OF CIRCULAR ECONOMY IN EU COUNTRIES
Анотація
The concept of the circular economy is based on the secondary processing of almost any product, which is manifested at the stages of planning and development of products to ensure a long life cycle and a high potential of competitiveness of enterprises for further reuse, modernization, restoration and recycling.
The current state of the circular economy at the level of the OECD, the UN and the EU is considered as a means of accelerating society's transition to a more resource-saving system, thereby increasing competitiveness and responding to global environmental challenges and threats. At the same time, the EU, which is known for its strict environmental regulations, in 2015 presented the circular economy documentary package aimed at increasing cost efficiency, current account balance, increasing self-sufficiency, increasing the number of new jobs and achieving goals in the fight against climate change.
This paradigm facilitates and enables processes in the value chain to increase their efficiency, reducing unnecessary consumption and the need to over-extract resources from nature. Reducing the need to use natural resources reduces the impact of human activity on the environment and stimulates the search for efficient use, rather than ownership of resources.
European countries have already assessed the importance of the circular economy in ensuring sustainable development. According to preliminary forecasts, the construction of a circular economy in Europe will lead to the creation of 580,000 jobs and annual savings of 500 euros in each household on energy costs. According to EU calculations, "the implementation of resource-efficient production technologies at all links of production chains will allow to reduce the industrial demand for raw materials by 17-24% by 2030 and the annual costs of enterprises by 630 billion euros".
Considering the development trends of the circular economy, it is worth noting that even in the European Union, despite the commonality of framework approaches (circular economy package), each country has national peculiarities in the implementation of this concept. In particular, Germany, with a strong industrial economy, has formed the basis of a circular economy through material flows and availability of materials, and the Netherlands through innovation in materials and business models. Finland is the first country in the world to develop a national roadmap for the transition to a circular economy. Scotland became the first country to join the Circular Economy 100 (CE100) club, created by the Ellen MacArthur Foundation to stimulate cooperation and innovation for the development of the circular economy. Large EU countries, such as Germany, Great Britain (formerly the EU) and France, tend to have higher rates of investment, patents and jobs in circular economy sectors, allowing them to take the lead in circular economy development assessments. In the circular economy ranking 2018, Germany took first place in terms of the number of patents related to the circular economy, more than twice ahead of France, which was in second place (1,260 patents versus 542). Great Britain and Germany were the leaders in terms of "circular" investments, significantly ahead of other countries of the Union.
The EU action plan for the circular economy describes measures from the moment of design and production of the product to the moment of its consumption, repair, processing, reuse and return to the economy. Today, the life cycle of many products is very short, and the application of a linear production model does not contribute to the production of sustainable products. And, in fact, the initiatives of the new Circular Economy Action Plan are designed to change this situation by implementing specific actions aimed at "greening" not only the economy, but also every product.
