Solid Waste Reuse in the Balkan-Mediterranean Region

The wide implementation of circular economy and industrial symbiosis in the Balkan and Mediterranean region lags behind most of the other European countries. The economic crisis has had a significant impact to the local businesses, eliminating new investments. Regarding specifically solid waste, which is the type with the highest increase in terms of annual generation over the last decade, the situation is aggravated by the lack of national or regional strategies. In this paper, taking into consideration the results of the implementation of SWAN research project, which led to the design and development of a digital solid waste reuse platform for the Balkans, our objectives are: (a) to compare the current state of solid waste management in four different countries (Albania, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Greece), (b) analyse the opinions of various directly involved actors on solid waste management issues and on their familiarisation with new concepts such as circular economy and urban/industrial symbiosis; and (c) compare the feasible business models in all four countries, in terms of their quantitative and qualitative characteristics.