WASTE MANAGEMENT IN THE CITY OF ORADEA – AN APPROACH IN THE LIGHT OF TRANSITION FROM A LINEAR TO A CIRCULAR ECONOMY
Roxana GAVRILUȚ1, Diana-Claudia PERȚICAȘ1, Adrian-Gheorghe FLOREA1
1Department of Economics and Business, Faculty of Economic Sciences, University of Oradea, Oradea, Romania
Abstract: Transition from the linear to the circular economy is not only a desideratum of all developed economies; it ultimately represents the chance for the world we all live in will to continue to exist. If in the first part of our paper we analysed the main characteristics of both the linear economy and the circular economy, in the light of an extensive literature, while focusing on the mechanisms that would allow a transition as smoothly as possible; in the second part of the paper, we aimed to analyse the state of play in the city of Oradea in terms of intelligent, selective waste management. Our analysis focused on two main strands: the selective collection of waste and the implementation of a recycling program for biodegradable waste. If in the first part of the analysis we came to the conclusion that it is necessary to involve all stakeholders, including public authorities, the private sector and civil society, in the second part we needed a statistical data analysis in order to be able to deeply understand the economic mechanisms behind the population’ and businesses’ behaviour. In that regard, we ran a statistical analysis of the amount of waste collected in the city of Oradea using the dedicated software SPSS 24 (Armonk); all outcomes were considered significant at a significance level of 0.05, while the connection between the variables was linear and of medium intensity. The conclusion we reach is that a positive evolution can be observed in the waste management following the implementation of the management system.
Keywords: environmentally responsible behaviour, circular economy, waste management.
