Circular Economy Similarities in a Group of Eastern European Countries: Orienting towards Sustainable Development

Abstract

The transition to a circular economy determines benefits at the level of each country by ensuring the premises for a sustainable economy in the future. The purpose of this study is to analyze indicators that measure the results of the implementation of circular economy through five study directions: Production and Consumption, Waste Management, Secondary Raw Materials, Competitiveness and Innovation, and Global Sustainability and Resilience. The analysis used 11 indicators that allow for the measurement of the evolution of eight Eastern European countries in the years 2012–2020. The study used three working hypotheses, which were all verified. The obtained results allowed for the classification of countries using a composite index and the grouping of countries with the help of cluster analysis using Pearson’s correlation coefficient. In a nutshell, sustainable development requires both economic development and environmental sustainability, and the developed composite index groups the countries’ evolution towards this goal.