The Circular Economy Approach to Production Inefficiency: A Stochastic Frontier Analysis

Abstract

The Circular Economy concept, which is based on the 3R principle, has led to the emergence of different ideas on waste management. On the one hand, waste management is expanded with the recommendations of the 5R and 10R hierarchies, on the other hand, it is defined to cover a significant part of the R stages of the recovery process. CE discussions are the efficiency analysis and use different indicators in performance measurements for which DEA is widely preferred. The stochastic frontier analysis (SFA) consists of assumptions about the functional relationship between inputs and outputs variables. Additionally, compared with non-parametric (SFA) considers the effects of random factors on outputs which strengthen the used estimation procedure. In this study, it is thought that one of the important variables of reducing inefficiency in the production function is the recovery in which the recycling of losses in the production process creates an important economic value while reducing the use of inputs or substituting them. Therefore, recovery is directly designed as an additional input using the Cobb-Douglas functional form. In the study, the 2000-2017 period data of OECD countries were used to analyze the effects of waste management, focusing on the recovery process, on economic growth. As a result, it was seen that the efficiency value calculated for OECD countries was 0,84 and the inefficiency in the production process decreased as the recovery rate increased. Even though the economic contribution of the recovery process is accepted by local governments, the initial costs of carrying out this process may require significant expenditures. Therefore, policies should be developed by taking into account the capacities and scales of the municipalities for the financing of these expenditures.