Circular economy: Can belarus close the loop?

Abstract

As the world economy attempts to move towards a circular economy, the Republic of Belarus has adopted its “National Strategy for Sustainable Development for the period to 2030" and “National Plan of Action for the Green Economy”, thereby taking the first steps towards creating a circular economy. The purpose of this article is to understand the potential of applying the principles of the circular economy to the economy of the Republic of Belarus. This is the first known article that has directly studied the state of Belarus’ transaction towards a circular economy. This article’s findings are based on analyzing the main articles and reports related to the circular economy literature and by analyzing the state of Belarus’ economy in the context of transitioning from a “green” to a “circular” economy. In Belarus, there are some successes in areas of their circular economy transition, such as recycling plastic and construction wastes; however, other areas require further development. A potential limitation of this study is that it only analyzed the main works on the definitions and principles of the circular economy, and therefore wider research may be needed.