The paper provides a definition of the circular economy, which could serve as a foundation for taking further actions to enhance the organizational and management mechanisms of the circular economy’s development, in particular through the formation of strategies for the transition to the circular economy both at the level of the state and at the level of the territorial community and individual enterprise as a social responsible stakeholders. This study performs a meta-analysis of the scientific publications indexed by the Scopus database, published from 2001 to 2023 by the keyword “circular economy”, taking into account interdisciplinary approach. Expert opinions and assessments were obtained through an expert survey, which included 300 territorial communities from all regions of Ukraine as one of the key stakeholder groups. Circular economy is understood as a concept that aims to create or develop economic

relationships through the operation of sustainable business models based on business processes with an extended product life cycles, socially responsible behavior at micro, macro, and meso levels within the framework of planetary boundaries. The proposed definition is suitable for use by various groups of stakeholders, as it emphasizes that the development of a circular economy is only possible through the interaction of business, individual citizens, and the state.

Highlights

• The proposed definition of “circular economy” is suitable for use by various groups of stakeholders.
• The circular economy requires systemic solutions and actions from all groups of stakeholders.
• Socially responsible stakeholders playing a critical role in developing circular economy.