Measuring Circular Economy in the European Union Based on a Composite Indicator

In the European Union, circular economy has received increasing attention, because of its potential to break with unsustainable production and linear consumption models. The concept of the circular economy came to the fore in the 1960s and typically changes depending on the political, geographical, territorial, social and cultural context. In terms of its operational process, the circular economy, as opposed to the linear economy, sees the economy as a sustainable economic system. The system separates economic growth from the use of resources by reducing the use of natural resources and, in a way, recycling them. Making progress and measuring performance in the circular economy as an integral part of sustainable development is quite a difficult task, as is getting countries, in this case, the 27 EU Member States, to adapt to this economic model. Measuring the level of implementation of circular economy strategies is still at a relatively early stage, which means that despite efforts, not all countries use the same indicators to measure them. Despite the development of a wide range of indicators, there is inconsistency in their purpose, scope and potential application. This study examines the circular economy indicators for the 27 Member States of the European Union to develop composite indicators at the Member State level. The research objective can be achieved with the help of secondary data from Eurostat's central database, which is specific to the circular economy. The 25 indicators are structured around four themes, forming the composite indicator's basis. The composite results for the 27 EU Member States show that Belgium, Germany, Denmark and the Netherlands top the rankings, with Romania, Croatia and Malta at the bottom. The existence of these results means that it is easy to measure the performance and ranking of EU Member States in terms of the circular economy.