IDENTIFICATION OF THE BARRIERS TO THE CIRCULAR ECONOMY - THE CASE OF THE FURNITURE INDUSTRY

The main purpose of the paper is to identify the barriers that impede the circular economy development in the EU. There will also be analyzed the possibilities of circular economy implementation in the furniture industry. The methodology of new institutional economy will be applied in the study. There will be used statistical data for Bulgaria which has been an EU member-state for over 10 years. The analysis will be focused on the furniture industry and the effectiveness of the extended producer's responsibility. The framework of the analysis will be based on the clear distinction between circular economy and recycling economy. In most of the publications so far, it is made only a distinction between circular economy and linear economy. In this way the particular stages of the transition process to circular economy will be identified. The findings of the study have three aspects. On the first place, it will add knowledge to the publications, which analyze the barriers that impede the development of the circular economy in Europe. This will allow the circular economy concept to be developed. On second place, the publication will study how the circular economy concept will be implemented in the furniture industry from the viewpoint of the extended producer's responsibility. On third place, the publication will bring further information about the relationship between social and transaction costs. This will help the measurement of these costs to be developed.