POLICY ASSESSMENT AND RECOMMENDATIONS
This policy assessment outlines critical challenges and systemic shortcomings obstructing the meaningful implementation of circular economy principles across the Western Balkans. While circular economy frameworks are promoted globally as essential for sustainability and climate resilience, in the Western Balkans the term is often exploited for political and donor optics, with limited tangible outcomes.
This document is grounded in the research of the GreenCIVIL team and informed by a series of expert discussions aimed at exposing structural failures and policy malpractice across the Western Balkans. It draws from the regional online conference “Give Me Five for a Better Future!”, hosted by GreenCIVIL on May 29 as part of the fourth Western Balkans Circular Economy Week 2025. The analysis also builds on interviews and insights presented in the article „Circular Economy in the Western Balkans: From Rhetoric to Regeneration – and Back” by Xhabir Deralla, along with a broad body of content published by CIVIL. The Circular Economy Week was initiated by The Balkan Forum through the regional LogEx community.
I. Current landscape and enduring challenges
Despite growing global consensus on the importance of circular economy models, the Western Balkans continue to face deep-rooted structural barriers that hinder meaningful progress. Circular economy discourse in the region is increasingly present—but too often reduced to buzzwords in political speeches or donor-driven project proposals. Beneath the surface lies a landscape marked by politicization, mismanagement, dependency, and systemic inertia. This section outlines the key obstacles—ranging from broken institutional promises and greenwashing to weak oversight and the risk of the region becoming a dumping ground for foreign waste. These challenges reflect not only policy failure, but also a wider disconnect between public rhetoric and lived reality.
- Politicization and greenwashing
Circular economy terminology is widely used by political actors, often to appeal to international donors or younger voters. However, in many cases this discourse lacks substance, with policy frameworks rarely implemented beyond symbolic acts.
2. Corruption and mismanagement
Projects are too often undermined by non-transparent procurement, donor-driven agendas, and elite capture. There is evidence and credible suspicion of “green” initiatives being used as facades for financial gain.
3. Donor dependency and external optics
Many circular economy projects are externally initiated and donor-funded, which reinforces dependency and hinders sustainable, locally-driven innovation. Success is often defined by donor satisfaction, not systemic change.
4. Broken promises and inert institutions
In 2023, North Macedonia’s promise to reinvest 700,000 euros from plastic bag charges into sustainable waste systems remains unfulfilled—illustrative of broader institutional inertia and weak follow-up mechanisms.
5. Dumping grounds and waste imports
With weak environmental oversight and rampant corruption, some Western Balkan countries are increasingly at risk of becoming waste disposal zones for foreign waste, often through secretive or loosely regulated deals.
6. Green illusions and PR campaigns
Green narratives are heavily present in grant applications, official speeches, and project launch events. But behind the scenes, many projects are either abandoned after donor reporting or fail to produce measurable impact.
7. Lack of public awareness and community ownership
Circular economy remains a concept distant from everyday life. Citizens are rarely consulted or empowered to participate meaningfully in design, oversight, or implementation of green initiatives.
8. Contrast Between rhetoric and reality
Politicians frequently reference “Scandinavian standards,” but these claims are often disconnected from local realities of failing infrastructure, insufficient waste management, and environmental neglect.
II. Policy Recommendations
To move beyond symbolic gestures and donor-driven narratives, the Western Balkans must embrace a transformative approach to circular economy policy—one grounded in transparency, accountability, and locally rooted action. This requires coordinated engagement from governments, civil society, media, business, and academia. The following recommendations propose bold, systemic reforms to confront entrenched challenges and accelerate genuine progress:
- Ensure transparency and accountability
- Guarantee public access to environmental funding and expenditure data.
- Require independent impact assessments and open procurement processes.
- Introduce legal protections for whistleblowers exposing environmental fraud or corruption.
- Establish independent oversight and civic participation
- Create cross-sectoral monitoring bodies with balanced representation.
- Mandate civil society and citizen participation in all major circular economy initiatives.
- Reform institutions and build local capacities
- Offer regular training for public officials and local authorities.
- Strengthen enforcement bodies to uphold environmental regulations effectively.
- Invest in bottom-op and community-led innovation
- Support grassroots initiatives and circular economy start-ups through grants and mentorship.
- Allocate micro-funding to rural and underserved areas for local circular solutions.
- Reduce donor dependency and promote local ownership
- Align donor criteria with long-term outcomes and local relevance.
- Encourage co-funding models that empower national and municipal stakeholders.
- Counter greenwashing and manipulative branding
- Enforce penalties for false or misleading environmental claims.
- Develop media literacy programs to expose performative “green” campaigns.
- Develop a regional circular economy framework
- Harmonize national policies across the Western Balkans.
- Promote regional cooperation, cross-border projects, and policy learning platforms.
- Empower youth and education systems
- Integrate circular economy and sustainability into formal education.
- Support youth-led research, innovation labs, and eco-activism.
- Enforce and strengthen waste import legislation
- Audit and update legal frameworks governing transboundary waste movement.
- Criminalize illegal waste imports and hold facilitators accountable, including political actors.
- Elevate the role of media and investigative journalism
- Provide funding and protection for journalists uncovering environmental wrongdoing.
- Strengthen public service media to report on circular economy and ecological integrity.
Conclusion
The Western Balkans face a paradox: rich in potential for circular economy innovation, yet persistently undermined by systemic failures. This policy document exposes the dissonance between rhetoric and reality, naming key challenges like greenwashing, donor dependency, and corruption. Yet it also offers a comprehensive roadmap—grounded in transparency, accountability, and community-driven innovation. It is a call for action, honesty, and commitment to turning circular promises into tangible, regenerative change.
The Western Balkans cannot afford another decade of green illusions. Circular economy is not a marketing tool or a donor magnet—it is an urgent framework for survival and transformation. This document urges all stakeholders to shift from rhetoric to implementation.
The opportunity to act is still within reach. But the clock is ticking.
Let this be a call to action. Not just for policymakers and donors, but for every citizen, journalist, entrepreneur, and activist who cares about the future of this region.
Prepared within the LogEx network initiative
