Drivers and Barriers for a Circular Economy (CE) Implementation in Poland—A Case Study of Raw Materials Recovery Sector

Mobilizing industry and transforming industrial sectors to a circular economy (CE) is one of the key areas of activities in the European Green Deal (EGD)—the newest strategy of economic growth in European Union (EU). In the CE, the raw materials that can be recovered from various waste streams play a key role, therefore, recommendations for their management were developed, both at the European and national level. In Poland, the raw material recovery sector is one of the strategic sectors (key industries) described in several documents determining the further directions of economic growth in the country. This paper presents the revision of these documents and guidelines for the implementation of the CE in the raw material recovery sector. The scope of the paper also includes a description of the current state of the raw materials recovery sector and its return, supported by the analysis of drivers and barriers in its further development. In previous years, a dynamic development of the recovery industry was observed, followed by formation of new companies (dominated by medium-sized companies comprising ~50% of entities in the sector) and increasing amount of people employed (~70,700 people). A growing level of processing of secondary raw materials with the use of more and more innovative technologies has been observed, which could contribute to the improvement of the level of innovation of the national economy. There also some barriers, such as the lack of sufficiently developed industrial symbiosis (IS) and long-term support for the implementation of recovery technologies. The growing ecological awareness of society and enterprises themselves, as well as the growing belief in the importance of resource recovery for environmental protection, suggest the possibility of subsequent development of the raw materials recovery sector. Further actions in this field will be taken to strengthen the implementation of the CE in the country.