As a result of the spread of technologies of the fourth industrial revolution and the digitalization of the economy, new opportunities are opening up for the development of circular principles of production. The use of digital economy technologies is associated with obtaining positive effects related to the use of raw materials and energy resources. The positive effects are due not only to the rationalization of resource consumption, but also to the implementation of operations to restore and regenerate the natural environment through the use of innovative digital technologies. All this contributes to the formation of a fundamentally new model of the economy, which acquires a restorative and closed character, based on the principle of "take-make-reuse" and being an alternative to the previously dominant linear model based on the principle of "take-make-waste". The article is devoted to defining the role of the circular economy in the transition to the fourth industrial revolution. Also a comparative analysis of linear and circular models of the economy is presented. The practice of introducing the main principles of closed loops in foreign countries is disscussed.