Performance Measurement Systems for Circular Supply Chain Management: Current State of Development

Benchmarking circularity in supply chains: A systematic literature review

The challenges posed by unsustainable practices in today's economy underscore the urgent need for a transition toward a circular economy (CE) and a holistic supply chain (SC) perspective. Benchmarking plays a pivotal role in managing circular SCs, offering a metric to gauge progress. However, the lack of consensus on the optimal benchmarking approach hampers effective implementation of circular business practices. To address this gap, we conducted a systematic review of the literature, identifying 29 pertinent publications. The analysis revealed 30 unique attributes and sub-attributes for benchmarking circularity, which were clustered into five main attributes. The main attributes are goals, subjects, key performance indicators (KPIs), data sources, and evaluation methods, while the sub-attributes are organised as features of the main attributes and depicted as a feature model. Drawing from selected publications, we illustrated each feature with examples. Our model offers a comprehensive benchmarking reference for circularity and will be a valuable tool for managers in the transition toward circularity. Supply chains seeking to benchmark their transition to circularity can apply the reference model to ensure that their benchmarking strategy is consistent with state-of-the-art knowledge. By providing a generic circularity benchmarking approach that is valid for diverse economic sectors, our findings contribute to theoretical efforts to address the lack of generic frameworks for CE.

Comparative assessment of two circularity indicators for the case of reusable versus single-use secondary packages for fresh foods in Spain

Sustainable packaging is a crucial focus in the context of circular economy efforts. This study evaluates the circularity of two secondary packaging systems used in Spanish fresh food produces: Reusable Plastic Crates and Single-use Cardboard Boxes. A Mass Flow Analysis was performed to assess the material flows in the production and use phases of both systems and two circular indicators were applied: the Material Circularity Indicator and Product Circular Indicator. While most previous studies for single-use packaging use these indicators at the product level, this study applies a system approach since the Reusable Plastic Crates can be reused 100 times. The functional unit was defined as the distribution of 1000 tonnes of fresh products, resulting in the distribution of 6,666,700 packages with 15 kg of products. The Material Circularity Indicator and Product Circular Indicator results show that Reusable Plastic Crates are more circular than Single-use Cardboard Boxes. The Product Circular Indicator provides a more comprehensive assessment of circularity by considering multiple life cycle stages, efficiency, and unrecoverable waste, resulting in a difference in circularity evaluations. The indicators used have limitations as they do not consider the resource stock. Further research is needed to explore this aspect.

Interdisciplinary challenges in the circular supply chains: A systematic literature review

As the circular supply chain (CSC) gains traction in literature and practice, some academic groups are developing new fields that proceed from the CSC as a precisely technical concept. In order to examine the trends of CSC over time, to define how previous researchers have conceptualized the CSC ideology, and to identify the barriers to CSC adoption in businesses operations. This systematic review of the literature (n = 55) examines and discusses the disparate body of knowledge on supply chains (SCs). The paper claims that there are still differences across the circular economy (CE) definitions because of alleged antecedents and scopes, which has led to several research streams. However, CSC's goal remained the same: to encourage sustainable strategies that rejected the traditional linear paradigm that had harmed the environment. In order to be included in future practices and approaches, eight significant, interdisciplinary issues were discovered using SLR, along with the corresponding sub-challenges. These difficulties were discussed in this paper. Aiming to address the current concerns about balancing the environmental and economic perspectives, this study will provide guidelines to future researchers to identify the challenges from a real-world point of view by taking into account the social, environmental, and economic perspectives altogether.

Circular Economy and Supply Chains: Definitions, Conceptualizations, and Research Agenda of the Circular Supply Chain Framework

Objective

Circular supply chain management (CSCM) incorporates circular thinking - based on the circular economy paradigm - into supply chain management. In the last 5 years, this emerging research field has developed at a rapid pace and, as a result, has attracted great interest from researchers, policy-makers, and practitioners. As there are few studies on the theoretical conceptualization of the circular supply chain (CSC), especially on its definition, this paper aims to fill this gap and to provide conceptual transparency for the CSC framework. The main research question is "What are the current understandings among scholars of the CSC concept and CSCM framework?".

Method

To answer this question, a systematic literature review was conducted based on the Web of Science and Scopus databases. This was followed by a bibliometric analysis using VOSviewer and a comprehensive content analysis of the literature.

Results

The bibliometric analysis provided an overview of CSC evolution and identified three temporal, thematic clusters. The content analysis identified 127 articles that explicitly mention the term CSC(M). Of these, seventeen articles provide explicit definitions that were thoroughly analyzed and categorized. Following this, six archetypal elements of the CSC and four propositions on the CSC's uniqueness were formulated.

Conclusion

The CSC research field is evolving rapidly. Its differentiation from other sustainability-related fields is sometimes not clear, and definitions and conceptualizations vary in detail, scope, and focus.

Contributions

This study contributes to the CSC literature and provides transparency for the conceptualization and understanding of CSC. For both theory and practice, an agenda for future research opportunities is identified, which supports the further development of this research field.

Evaluation of the Circular Economy in a Pitahaya Agri-Food Chain

Over the last decade, the circular economy (CE) has attracted attention due to the current unsustainable model of production and consumption, which involves an increased resource use and depletion. Agri-food is one of the key sectors where action must be taken to ensure the transition to a more sustainable development model in line with circular economy principles. This study aims to evaluate the potential of implementing the circular economy in the pitahaya agri-food chain in Ecuador. The research was conducted from 2019 to 2021, during which a checklist was applied that included 91 items grouped into nine dimensions: source or supply of materials, design, manufacturing, economic circle, distribution and sales, consumption/use, 4R, remanufacturing, and sustainability. The level of the circular economy evaluated in the study was low (2.14 points out of 5). Therefore, improvements are required in the agri-food management of fruit cultivation and processing. Critical points were identified and strategies were proposed to increase competitiveness, improve environmental performance, and promote the implementation of the circular economy in this production chain. A final recommendation is to explore research on the concept of CE in the sector, mainly focused on the valorization of biomass as a contribution to the bioeconomy in order to contribute to the country’s growth within the context of sustainability.