Circular Economy in Russia: Drivers and Barriers for Waste Management Development

Russia is just starting to become a circular and green economy. The development of an efficient national waste management system is a prerequisite for the circular economy (CE). Russian companies are already moving toward adopting more circular business models because it is proven to be a sound business strategy. This strategy facilitates access to new markets, drives innovative solutions, and saves production costs. This paper presents a general understanding of the CE concept. Using practical examples, we show how the Russian government and other stakeholders are providing solutions to advance the development of the waste management system. The paper demonstrates political, legal, and institutional changes implemented through waste management practices and reforms. We introduce four stages of evolution of waste management in Russia and discuss the changing roles of stakeholders in a waste management ecosystem. We conduct a case study of the best available techniques of waste management in leading Russian companies to identify the roles existing in waste management systems (WMS), to allocate responsibilities of each role, and to describe three types of corporate strategies of waste management. The paper is based on the analysis of official public documents and official reports of leading Russian companies.