24. Socio-economic effects of the circular economy

An available macro-economic model for Belgium has been finetuned towards its use for assisting policy making dedicated to the circular economy. This possible use has been illustrated with three cases, suggesting that i) a mandatory increase in the share of waste and recycled materials as inputs may reduce manufacturing output, ii) facilitating high-quality recycling may increase economic activity, and iii) restricting waste exports may have a rather limited macro-economic effect.