The circular economy is a major challenge for any national economy. It is a modern model of an economy that focuses on a new model of production and consumption that requires less use of limited resources, minimizing waste (products after their lifetime) in landfills, more efficient management of waste as raw material, minimizing pollution, and all that with the aim of protecting the environment and improving the living standards of the population. In the transition to the circular economy, the state and its bodies, economic entities and the population should be of equal importance. The aim of this paper is to point out the role and importance of the circular economy as a new economic system with special emphasis on the principles of the circular economy, drivers of the circular economy, strategies for establishing and maintaining the circular economy and goals achieved by the circular economy.