Waste management efficiency within the circular economy framework: a macro-level SBM-DEA analysis of European countries with evidence from Serbia

Abstract

This study evaluates and compares waste management efficiency within the broader circular economy (CE) framework across 28 European countries over the period 2010-2022, with particular emphasis on Serbia as a late-transition economy. The objective is to identify cross-country disparities in waste-centered circular performance, examine temporal efficiency dynamics, and assess Serbia’s structural distance from European best-practice frontiers.