4.7 Article

Tracking the post-1990 sociometabolic transitions in Eastern Europe with dynamic economy-wide material flow analysis

Journal

RESOURCES CONSERVATION AND RECYCLING
Volume 199, Issue -, Pages -

Publisher

ELSEVIER
DOI: 10.1016/j.resconrec.2023.107280

Keywords

Material flow analysis; Resource efficiency; Circular economy; Material footprint; Decoupling; Eastern Europe

Ask authors/readers for more resources

Developing and transition countries should pay more attention to resource monitoring and the implementation of circular economy in order to improve global sustainability. By studying the cases of Bulgaria, Croatia, Poland, and Romania, it was found that their material use is strongly coupled or relatively decoupled from economic outputs, with per capita stocks showing a progressive growth. However, their socioeconomic circularity remains low.
Developing and transition countries merit more attentions on resource monitoring and circular economy implementation to improve global sustainability. With four Eastern European countries, Bulgaria, Croatia, Poland, and Romania, as cases, we integrated economy-wide and dynamic material flow analysis principles to track multiple material flows and stocks during 1990-2019 and investigate circularity performance and decoupling status throughout all life cycle stages of their entire socioeconomic system. Although the absolute stocks presented different trajectories in these countries, they all have witnessed a progressive growth in per capita stocks, reaching 390 t/cap (Bulgaria), 383 t/cap (Croatia), 239 t/cap (Poland), and 306 t/cap (Romania) in 2019, dominated by minerals. Their material use along all life cycle stages has been identified as being in a strong coupling or a relative decoupling with economic outputs and thus further stock expansion is foreseeable. However, their socioeconomic circularity remained at a low level, ranging from 7 % to 14 %. Such sociometabolic patterns affirm demand-side strategies for manufacturing streams close to service provision are required to reduce resource extraction. Proper waste management systems and policy enforcement are needed to maximize recycling and increase circularity, particularly, in Bulgaria and Romania. We call for more bottom-up studies to improve sectoral resolution, zoom in key life cycle stages, and provide tailored insights towards circular economy implementation in such transition countries.

Authors

I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.

Reviews

Primary Rating

4.7
Not enough ratings

Secondary Ratings

Novelty
-
Significance
-
Scientific rigor
-
Rate this paper

Recommended

No Data Available
No Data Available