Government Decision No. 1.172 validating the National Strategy on the Circular Economy.

The National Strategy on the Circular Economy provides an overview of 14 economic sectors in terms of their circularity potential. The results of the sectoral assessment will serve as a basis for the subsequent development of the Action Plan, which will present in more detail and depth specific objectives and policy recommendations, as well as concrete actions to be taken. The energy, water and waste sectors are addressed across all 14 sectors in a cross-cutting manner.
As the three sectors, energy, water and waste, provide essential material flows for all other sectors, they will be addressed within each sector individually, where a clear link and opportunity to increase circularity have been identified. Examples are opportunities to reduce waste and ways to recycle and reuse products at the end of their life cycle or to reduce energy consumption, increase energy efficiency and use renewable energy sources during the product life cycle or in the production phase. Similarly, water consumption and the possibility of water reuse are presented across all sectors. In particular, it is important to reduce the use of industrial packaging materials by wider use of recycled materials for packaging and labelling such packaging as Ecology A products.
To achieve the overall objective, the following directions should be pursued through policy development: (a) reduction consumption of raw materials through extraction, recycling and recovery; (b) reduction of consumption of consumer goods by extension of life cycle (durability) of products; (c) reduction of impact on the environment; (d) reduction of impact of waste and wastewater management and disposal activities on the environment; and (e) improving coherent policy and governance, communication and collaboration from local, regional and national authorities.
In general, the need for materials, water and energy is increasing as a direct result of population growth and industrial development. The industrial sector is particularly dependent on mining materials and there is a need to increase the number of manufacturers opting for the use of secondary raw materials, material reuse and innovation in their sector.