Circular Economy (CE) is a strategic concept based on a deep change in contemporary societies, moving from a linear economy to a circular model. The CircularLabs POCTEP* project aims at promoting the integration of the CE in business models and includes the participation of 11 partners from the three Regions of: the North of Portugal, Galicia and Castilla y León, both in Spain. This project Among its initial actions, this project launched an online survey for companies located in this Iberian Northwest Regions. A total of 294 companies answered this survey. On this sample, SMEs from services and industry were the most represented groups. The survey focused on multiple aspects, including the recognition of CE concepts, the integration of CE strategies, reasons for CE implementation, main obstacles and barriers, among others. Results show a dispersion in the interpretation of the CE concept, as it is mostly recognised as part of a strategical vision or policy in these companies.
Moreover, CE is mostly considered for its environmental benefits. The most relevant difficulties found in EC implementation related to the lack of information and advice and insufficient financial support. The fact that only a fraction of the companies had implemented environmental management systems, may be seen as a reason for the lack of internal structure for CE technical support. This research will outline some of the necessary steps towards CE implementation in these North-western Iberian Regions.This study was part of the Trans-National Project CircularLabs. The authors would like to thank the Spain-Portugal Transnational Program (POCTEP), with the Financial Support from the European Union under Program FEDER (European Regional Development Fund). This Program is not responsible for the opinions expressed by the authors. Some of the authors are grateful to the Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT, Portugal) and FEDER under Programme PT2020 for financial support to CIMO (UIDB/00690/2020).info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio
