Proceedings of the 49th International Academic Conference, Dubrovnik

TRANSITION TOWARDS CIRCULAR ECONOMY – IS MONOPOLY IN WASTE MANAGEMENT A SOLUTION?

DZINTRA ATSTĀJA, NATĀLIJA CUDEČKA-PURIŅA

Abstract:

Circular economy is a considerably new concept, that has appeared on the economic horizon during the last decade and it seems that it will revolutionary change the existing business as usual model. Although, if analysing the key concepts of circular economy one can come to a conclusion that there is nothing radically new about it. The finite amount of resources among with scarcity and progressing increase of global population have lead to comprehension that material and product re-use, repair and resource saving need to be enhanced in a urgent pace. One industry extensively covered by circular economy elements is waste management. Across Europe it varies significantly, from countries focusing on recycling and recovery, disposing already below 5% of household waste to the countries, which are still lagging behind and just introducing best available Technologies and currently still relying heavily on disposal (over 40%). Within the present research the authors would like to analyse the benefits and drawbacks of one of solutions – implementing lng-term monopoly via Public-Private partnership. The research is based on statistical data analysis, benchmarking and expert methods, it uses mostly secondary data. The authors have concluded that unfortunately no one-size-fits-all solution is possible in this field, although decision-makers can evaluate best practices and develop a solution that can be applicable to a certain city or region, taking into consideration it’s specifics.

Keywords: circular economy, public-private partnership, waste management

DOI: 10.20472/IAC.2019.049.002

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