Public awareness, attitude and behavior towards developing a circular economy: an empirical research in Belgium

Details

Supervisors

Sarens, Gerrit

Faculty

Louvain School of Management

Degree label

Master [120] en sciences de gestion

Abstract

Recently circular economy is receiving increasing attention worldwide as it is viewed as a sustainable alternative that could overcome the limitations of the current linear economic development. The aim of this paper is to assess the public awareness, attitude and performance towards developing a circular economy in Belgium. The quantitative data of this paper is collected from questionnaires that are distributed to Belgian residents, either through online platform or structured interviews that are conducted in various public places in Belgium. The empirical research in this paper finds out that public holds a negative opinion towards the current economic development in Belgium, as well as its continuous growth in the future. The limitations of the current economic development proposed by various researches are well identified by the public. However, circular economy, which is viewed as an alternative to replace linear economy and deal with its limitations, has a low awareness among the public in Belgium. Among all the respondents who are aware of circular economy, a positive attitude towards developing circular economy is found out. Regardless of the low awareness of circular economy, the public in Belgium has an overall good performance towards development circular economy, especially regarding garbage sorting, reusing and green purchasing behaviors. In the meanwhile, areas such as share use, renting services might need further actions to promote its popularity among the public.