Predicting the future trends for circular economy

Abstract Considering sustainability and resource efficiency goals, the circular economy has gained significant attention as a promising economic model. To achieve this the countries worldwide are putting their attention on total municipal waste generation and its disposal methods with focus on recycling. For sustainable development of the country, policy makers need to design a new economic framework that should target reduction in the waste generation and enhancement in its reusage. Keeping in view this need the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) explored twelve key factors associated with the circular economy for European countries. For better understanding Heat map analysis is done on total municipal waste generation and recycling for ten countries. The trend analysis is also performed to get insight into how countries should plan their future policy designs keeping sustainability in the limelight. The study employs an ARIMA model to predict trends in two crucial components of the circular economy: municipal waste generation and recycling rates. The predicting modelling approach will provide a targeted measures to policy makers to handle the waste efficiently.