CSR Strategies Applied in Terms of Circular Economy

Abstract

At the beginning of the 21st century, the European Union and mankind are faced with the challenge of efficiently using waste and thus protecting the environment from pollution. Consumer society in developed and medium-developed Member States has undertaken to use waste in a way to create benefits and added value for the business sector and society at large. A tremendous challenge that Bulgaria and the EU have to overcome is the achievement of the highest recycled rate and the level of efficiently utilized waste. The value of unused waste that remains in landfills in the EU is a lost resource that may be re-introduced into the business sector’s production chain and thus create preconditions for introducing the “circular economy” principle in Bulgaria. In this regard, this paper reviews literally the basic concepts of circular economics and the strategies applied by companies in recent years to replace the take-do-discard linear model with one that turns waste into resources through recycling and re-use. On the basis of this review and of the main elements of the circular economy, a poll has been developed that has been sent to the 50 largest Bulgarian companies according to their assets, aimed at assessing their corporate social responsibility strategies focusing on practices in the field of recycling, use of energy-saving technologies, environmental protection and attitude towards the interested in their activities parties.