CHALLENGES IN CIRCULAR ECONOMY IMPLEMENTATION: INSIGHTS FROM NORTH MACEDONIA AND SERBIA

The focus of the Green Deal is to position Europe as a global leader in the circular economy. To implement the principles of the circular economy, the European Commission adopted the "EU Action Plan for the Circular Economy" (2015) and the "New Circular Economy Action Plan for a Cleaner and More Competitive Europe" (2020). In 2022, it published a set of two packages of proposals for encouraging the circular economy in achieving the sustainable development goals by 2030. These proposals include various practices such as industrial symbiosis, as a key enabling component of the circular economy, which involves the exchange of resources, energy, and by-products among industries, to improve efficiency and sustainability. The Western Balkans region faces significant barriers, both technical and non-technical, in the implementation of the circular economy. The aim of this paper is to identify the main obstacles in the practice of implementing the circular economy, using examples from two Western Balkans countries, namely North Macedonia and Serbia. The collected data is based on a systematic review of theoretical frameworks and empirical verification of the results. In addition to the introduction, the paper consists of three sections. The first section of the paper presents the key barriers for the circular economy implementation in North Macedonia, while the second section analyzes the same barriers in Serbia. The third section analyzes the current state of circular economy implementation in the respective countries based on Eurostat's data categories. Finally, the authors’ conclusions and insights are given.