Analyzing policy mixes for the circular economy transition: The case of recycled plastics in electronics

This study analyzes how policy mixes influence the transition to a circular plastics economy, focusing on recycling in the electrical and electronic equipment (EEE) sector. Our research contributes to the literature on how policy mixes can accelerate sustainability transitions by proposing an adjusted framework tailored to the circular economy transition. We use qualitative content analysis of 14 EU legislative documents and conduct 20 semi-structured interviews with actors across the plastics and EEE value chain. We find that the current policy mix is not conducive to promoting this transition and highlight three key barriers. First, we find short-term inconsistencies between increasing plastic recycling rates and tightening chemical regulations on hazardous substances. Second, we identify a lack of economic incentives to stimulate demand for recycled content and note the absence of harmonized, mandatory criteria for defining end-of-waste and recycled content. Finally, coordination between product users, producers, and recycling operators shows deficits. • Analysis of the EU policy landscape for plastics recycling in the EEE sector. • Application of the policy mix framework to the circular economy transition. • New analytic categories form “lifecycle safety & traceability” and “coordination”. • Findings show policy conflicts, gaps and misalignments across value chain actors. • The policy mix analyzed for WEEE is unsynchronized and exhibits barriers to CE acceleration.