The Use of Circular Economy to Plastics as an Instrument of Achieving Sustanability in EU Countries

In recent years, the circular economy has attracted increasing attention of politicians, international companies and other economic agents due to the imperative of a sustainable agenda. From the point of view of many experts, this model of economy allows solving a group of environmental problems at once: excessive consumption, issues of waste utilization and disposal, loss of biodiversity and others. Thanks to its implementation, the EU will finally be able to get closer to the goals of decarbonization, waste recycling and implementation of sustainable development plans. It can also promote economic growth and address the problems of overproduction and overconsumption, which are damaging to both the economy and the environment. The circular plastic economy can also help restore a healthy business cycle, help companies get on a green path and reduce costs by using recycled materials. The application of the circular plastic model can be a catalyst for European Union countries to achieve sustainable development and decarbonization. This is what justifies the relevance of my work. The object of research of my work is the circular economy of plastics. Also the subject of my work is to find the level of development of circular economy of plastics in the European Union countries. In this work the following goal was set: to study the directions and ways of realization of the circular economy of plastics and to identify the levels of development of this concept in the EU countries. Based on the set goal of this research, we have formulated the tasks: To review the development of research thought that led to the development of the circular economy direction; to identify the incentives for the development of the circular economy of plastics; to analyze the legislative initiatives adopted in the EU and their impact on the development of the circular economy of plastics; to analyze the implementation of the concept of circular economy of plastics in the European Union in general and the countries of the Union in particular; to identify the problems existing in the implementation of the concept of circular economy of plastics in the EU and to consider the appropriate ways of development of the e.g. The research question of this paper was formulated as follows: "why are some EU countries better adapted to the implementation of circular economy models than others?" The hypothesis was that the level of circular economy plastic development is directly related to the economic development of a country. To achieve the set goal and answer the research question, the following methods were used: descriptive analysis; comparative cross-country analysis; cluster analysis.