The circular economy in Romania and in the EU Member States

The transition to a circular economy could bring many benefits, such as: Reducing the pressure on the environment, improving the security of supply of raw materials, increasing the competitiveness of businesses, stimulating innovation, boosting economic growth and not least creating new jobs. The aim of the work is to highlight the situation of Romania compared to the Member States of the European Union as regards indicators specific to the circular economy. To achieve this aim, the following indicators have been analyzed: Trade in recyclable raw materials, circular use rate of material, municipal recycling rate, and private investment in circular economy sectors, both at Romanian level and across all EU Member States, in the period 2010-2020. The countries with the largest amounts of recycled raw materials are Germany and the Netherlands with more than 1,5 million tons in 2020 and the country-wide extra-EU trade in recyclable raw materials was 25,2 thousand. The Netherlands, Belgium and France are the leading figures for the use rate of recyclable metals. However, the highest recycling rate was registered by Germany with 67%, with Romania among the last countries.