Circular Economy as an Answer to the Challenge of Improving the Quality of Life

Abstract

The paper is an attempt to presents the influence the idea of circular economy on improving the quality of life. In the article the author presents the quality of life concept (understands as the element of sustainable development), as well as living standard idea, and the key assumption of circular economy: i.a. the 'take-make-waste' approach, characteristic of the linear model of economy, as well as 'reduce, reuse, recycle and recover' which is used in circular economy. It seems that circular economy could have positive effect on increasing the quality of life, especially due to the fact that environment aspects have it. The main part of the article is the literature review in the field of quality of life and circular economy connection. As an attempt to demonstrate of dependence between analysed phenomenon, author uses the available data come from international databases (Human Development Index and Quality of Life index, as well as from Eurostat). The preliminary analysis of existing relation is based on linear regression model, which results state that there is a positive influence of circular economy on increasing quality of life.

Impact of the circular economy on quality of life: A systematic literature review

“…The European Green Deal instigated a combined strategy for "a climate-neutral, resource-efficient and competitive economy" (European Commission, 2020, 2). Beneficial impact of a circular economy leads to a better quality of life (Szczygieł, 2020). However, we must be aware that this is a longterm process that will require a lot of investment and effort, both in economic terms and in transforming the habits and consciousness of the population.…”

Meeting Halfway - Understanding Circular Behaviours among Households as a Starting Point for Business Practices

“…: reducing food waste (Borrello et al, 2017), eco-friendly activities allowing implementation of circular economy (Lakatos, 2016), or meaning of examples of circular behaviours for young people (Korsunova et al, 2021), or overall concept (Wastling et al, 2018). The idea of circular behaviours in relation to 9R's concept was presented in a few articles so far (Szczygieł, 2020a;2020b;2021). The present one will be the continuation of the former reflections.…”

“…Circular behaviours in households are mentioned much less frequently (Borrello et al, 2017;Lakatos, 2016;Korsunova et al, 2021;Szczygieł, 2020a;2020b;2021;Wastling et al, 2018). That is the reason, that an analysis of circularity of households' behaviours should be described and conducted, and the level of their circularity should be assessed.…”

Between declaration and action – an analysis of the results of research on circular behaviours taken up by the households and perceived benefits from them

“…In previous articles (Szczygieł, 2020a, 2020b, 2021aand Szczygieł, Kowalska, 2021b the concept of circular behaviours was presented and characterised. These behaviours could be defined as those that in which the main attention is on decreasing the need of resources by reducing the demand for products and shifting to meeting the need (Szczygieł, 2021a).…”