Circular Economy Harvest WWF WWF Circular Economy emagazine | Page 10

CHALLENGES
We need a better educational and sharing of knowledge
effort: many people interested in circular economy in the region
have an ecology or sustainable development background, but very
few know of circular economy models. We need more in-depth
information more accessible to the right people through open-
source platforms, as well as building more refined models. Also,
there are no official and very few un-official forums to speak about
the topic of circular economy.
We are now too reliant on traditional consumptions
patterns, and need to change the mindset from linear to circular
economy, create local buy-in and a joint vision, as we create the
culture and behaviour shift needed.
We need to learn how we can respect the planet while
we establish a circular model - finding a way to recycle
microplastics, while we stop synthetic materials in clothes is an
example of that.
There is also a lack of granting and funding opportunities
to support circular business models, low involvement of decision
makers and lack of legislation needed to support the emergence of
these opportunities.
We need to overcome the challenges tied to the region of Central &
Eastern Europe being too fragmented on this topic: bridges need
to be built between the countries.