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Identifying the barriers that hinder the circularity in the wine industry in Bulgaria and proposing a preliminary circular economy (CE) index for ranking in order of importance the barriers for providing a suitable and replicable model through the contextualization of the study applied at the territorial level.

The article adopts a Fuzzy AHP methodology based on 6 main barriers and 19 sub-barriers to find the weights of the barriers and rank them. The study was conducted in Bulgaria, and it consists of a questionnaire with pairwise comparisons to ask for expert opinions of members of the Executive Board of the National Association of Bulgarian Vinegrowers and additional members of the regional vine and winegrowing chambers.

The study identifies training and education and environmental barriers as the most important among the main barriers whereas, economic barriers are assessed as low impact. Considering the sub-barriers, lack of consumer awareness and interest, unclear taxation for CE, lack of knowledge about environmental emissions (carbon, water etc.) within the supply chains, and lack of digital trends are determined as the most significant sub-barriers.

The preliminary CE index can be practically used and tested, when necessary, by each winemaker according to their understanding and opinion of CE barriers and sub-barriers. The ranking within the CE index can lead winemakers also to decisions related to the company's social policy.

The study uses the Fuzzy AHP methodology with expert opinions to analyze and weigh the main barriers to achieving CE at the micro-level.