Does Thinking Green Mean Acting Green in Circular Fashion?
Circular fashion applies the principles of the circular economy to the fashion industry, aiming to keep both garments and materials in use as long as possible through closed-loop design, waste elimination, and regeneration of natural systems, thereby replacing the traditional linear “take-make-dispose” model. At the consumer level, “thinking green” refers to a pro-environmental cognitive orientation and interest in sustainable products, while “acting green” denotes actual pro-environmental purchasing and usage behaviour, specifically the adoption of circular fashion products. Based on a survey of 233 consumers in Spain, this study examines whether awareness and application of circular fashion principles, products, enablers and benefits translate into green thinking and, ultimately, into acting green through the use of circular fashion products. It highlights the importance of understanding the transition from thinking to acting green, as thinking alone is not enough to drive sustainable behavioural change. Consumers prioritise price over environmental causes when shopping, and their purchase habits are driven more by individual fashion goals than collective green fashion concerns. The results suggest that consumers have a positive attitude towards green products in fashion. However, not all the principles of circular fashion are well understood and applied in consumers' daily lives. Thinking and acting green in circular fashion is crucial for creating a sustainable future.
Copyright (c) 2026 Maria Elena Aramendia-Muneta, Andrea Ollo-López , Katrin Simón-Elorz (Author) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
Systemic Design for Complex Ecosystems: Advancing Circular Airport Waste Strategies
Airports, as high-density public ecosystems, face significant challenges in adopting circular waste management practices due to complex stakeholder dynamics and logistical constraints. This study employs a local waste hub integrated with a Pay-As-You-Throw approach as a systemic design intervention to enhance waste separation in the residual waste stream at Oslo Airport. By applying systemic design principles, the intervention addressed interconnected behavioural, organisational, and infrastructural factors to advance circularity. A one-month pilot, involving seven commercial units, tested the intervention using mixed-method data collection. Results demonstrated a measurable reduction in incorrect waste disposal within residual waste streams, alongside heightened employee awareness toward waste separation. The study underscores the potential of context-based interventions to advance circular practices in complex environments, and delivers an empirical study that offers actionable, real-world insights for advancing sustainable waste management in similar high-density ecosystems, such as shopping malls and train stations.
[CLOSED FOR SUBMISSION] Circular Ecosystems: Origins, Significance and Implications for the Future of Sustainable Business
Copyright (c) 2026 Sonja van Dam, Conny Bakker, Jo van Engelen, Rita Jonyer, Elisabeth Tschavgova (Author) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
Circular Business Models in Contrasting Institutional Contexts: Value Creation, Value Delivery, and Legitimacy in Two Circular Enterprises
Research on circular business models (CBMs) has grown quickly, but we still know too little about how they are enacted under different institutional conditions and what, more precisely, context changes at firm level. This article compares two circular enterprises, an established Swedish energy utility and an emerging Bangladeshi textile firm, to examine how institutional alignment shapes circular value creation, value delivery, and legitimacy work. Drawing on CBM theory and institutional theory, it uses a theory-informed comparative case design based on nine semi-structured interviews conducted in two modes and triangulated with secondary documents. The findings show that institutional alignment does not simply enable or constrain circularity; it redistributes the organisational work required to make it viable. In Sweden, circularity is enacted through infrastructure-supported optimisation, stable coordination, and legitimacy maintenance. In Bangladesh, it depends on adaptive material recovery, brokerage, market formation, and active credibility building. The article's contribution is therefore not the generic claim that CBMs are context-dependent, but a more specific account of how differing degrees of alignment shift the locus of organisational work across value creation, value delivery, and legitimacy.
Copyright (c) 2026 Fahima Ahmed, Monika Wallmon (Author) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
From Protectionism to Informed Consumption: The Territorial Circular Economy Framework for Local Development and Value Retention
The renewed prominence of economic protectionism in the global political debate reflects a growing demand for safeguarding employment and local economies. Empirical evidence shows that coercive instruments such as tariffs and trade barriers often generate allocative inefficiencies, regulatory uncertainty, and losses in competitiveness. This article proposes an alternative, the conceptual framework of the Territorial Circular Economy (TCE), a model of economic development based on voluntary protectionism, activated through informed consumer choices in markets characterized by greater transparency. Within the TCE framework, the State acts as an enabling regulator, steering public intervention toward the reduction of information asymmetries and the regulation of commercial communication and advertising, with the aim of increasing consumer awareness of the impacts associated with purchasing locally produced goods and services. In this institutional context, a shift in consumption toward local goods and services becomes a generative economic mechanism, increasing the retention of expenditure and activating a local multiplier effect. Local firms, while benefiting from more stable demand, remain fully exposed to free competition, a condition that incentivizes investments in quality and efficiency. The paper discusses the implications of the TCE and outlines an empirical research agenda aimed at examining the role of demand in place-based development.
Copyright (c) 2026 Antonio Tulone (Author) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
Upcycling Renewable Ethanol Grain Fermentation Co‑Products in a Circular Bioeconomy: Technological Pathways to High‑Value, Low‑Impact Protein Production
In 2024 European renewable ethanol producers produced 6.9 million tons of food and feed co-products and 6.8 billion litres of renewable ethanol biofuel. Liquid renewable fuels such as bioethanol make an average greenhouse gas saving of 79% compared to fossil fuels. Recent advances in mechanical up-cycling of these traditional feed coproducts produces a new high-quality protein, Corn Fermented Protein (CFP) (Crude Protein content>50%) that can replace imported GM plant proteins currently used in feed formulations for aquaculture, pet food and livestock feeds. The fuel ethanol fermentation technology is undervalued because in fermentation protein is created. Fermentation to produce ethanol relies on the activity of yeast that is grown using approximately 8-10% of the feedstock grain starch, plus either gaseous ammonia or urea as a nitrogen source. Yeast cells are approximately 40% protein and form part of the feed co-products produced in the bioethanol process. Novel fractionation technologies up-cycle the traditional protein co-product (distillers dried grains and solubles; DDGS; a median protein approx. 30% crude protein) to produce a new Super Protein product (CFP) (>50-60% crude protein concentration) in so doing recovering a major proportion of the spent yeast that contains important immuno stimulants. CFP has been extensively tested, as a replacement of soybean meal in feed for poultry, swine, ruminants, aquaculture and companion animals. The new protein is devoid of any anti nutritional factors and highly suited for formulation in feed for aquaculture and companion animals. In addition, the spent yeast cell wall beta-glucans, act as immuno stimulants proven to reduce mortality when used in aquaculture feed. When used in feed for dogs CFP increases palatability. CFP has a significantly lower carbon index compared with many traditional feed proteins. Using CFP in feed formulation lowers the carbon index of feed products. Upcycling distillers dried grains and solubles into CFP helps lower Europe's protein deficit, reduces feed carbon footprint, and creates additional valuable markets for ethanol co-products.
Copyright (c) 2026 Peter E.V. Williams, Emily J. Burton (Author) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
Circular Economy Beyond Circularity: Where Should the Boundary Lie?
Circular economy (CE) is increasingly discussed not only as a strategy for slowing, closing, and narrowing material loops, but also as a broader route to sustainability. This expansion has made CE more influential, but also less clearly bounded. Drawing on three related studies, we argue that CE has moved well beyond its traditional circularity core yet still does not match sustainability in a balanced or complete way. Broad SDG alignment is therefore not enough to treat CE as equivalent to sustainability. The challenge is not to stop CE from expanding, but to govern that expansion. We propose two responses. First, stronger large-scale mapping systems are needed to assess CE’s sustainability reach with greater precision and consistency. Second, CE should be structured through a two-tier model with explicit boundary rules: CE-Core captures circularity-specific value retention, while CE-Plus includes only those wider domains that enable, govern, or evaluate circular interventions.
Copyright (c) 2026 Zahir Barahmand, Marianne Eikeland (Author) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
Understanding Success Factors and Challenges to Circular Industrialised Housing: An Interdisciplinary, Process-Driven Approach
The integration of Circular Economy principles with Industrialised Construction presents a crucial pathway for addressing the housing and climate crises. Industrialised Construction encompasses a controlled manufacturing approach, including prefabrication, off-site manufacturing, and on-site fabrication methods such as 3D printing, to produce repeatable products and reconfigurable systems that increasingly integrate digitalisation and Industry 4.0 technologies. However, scholarship on practical implementation across different national contexts remains limited, whilst existing frameworks are entrenched in linear approaches. This interdisciplinary study integrates practitioner knowledge across four distinct fields categorised as policymakers and disseminators, housing providers, designers, and off-site contractors to refine a process-driven lifecycle framework developed by the authors. The framework is structured around four key circular process types, rather than linear project stages: (re)planning, (re)designing, (re)manufacturing, and (dis)assembly. Drawing on interviews and survey analysis with 31 participants working at the forefront of applied circular and industrialised housing across the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, and Spain, success factors and challenges are identified and compared. The findings highlight the critical influence of the (re)planning process, cultural and governance factors, and identify new sub-themes for the lifecycle framework. The study provides best practice insights, supporting the transfer of Circular Industrialised Housing innovations across contexts with varying maturity, particularly within social and affordable housing.
Copyright (c) 2026 Annette Davis, Dr. Núria Martí Audí, Dr. Gerard van Bortel, Dr. Gemma Burgess (Author) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
Aligning Digital-Circular Capabilities and Institutional Pressure in Construction: A Strategic Framework for Circular Economy Transformation
Digital circular transformation requires alignment between organisational capabilities and institutional conditions. This article introduces the DCAM Strategic Positioning Matrix (SPM), integrating the Resource-Based View and institutional theory to explain variation in circular outcomes. The framework maps organisations along two dimensions, internal digital-circular capability and external institutional pressure, yielding four configurations: Minimal Effort, At-Risk, Innovation Buffer, and Ready-to-Scale. Empirical analysis of Nordic wood construction firms (N = 223) reveals a strongly asymmetric distribution, with firms concentrated in high-capability quadrants (86.5% Ready-to-Scale, 13.5% Innovation Buffer). Consequently, digital-circular capabilities function as mature baselines, whereas institutional pressures shape their translation into circular outcomes. Regression analyses show additive effects (capability: β = 0.420, p = .003; pressure: β = 1.136, p < .001) without multiplicative interaction, suggesting parallel rather than synergistic mechanisms. The study contributes by (1) identifying a boundary condition for capability-based theory: when digital-circular capabilities reach sectoral saturation, institutional pressure becomes the primary driver of outcome heterogeneity, shifting the focus from capability development to capability activation; (2) operationalizing this boundary condition through a configurational alignment framework that makes capability–context fit analytically explicit; and (3) providing a replicable diagnostic tool for strategic positioning in circular transformation contexts. Consequently, in mature settings, circular economy acceleration appears to depend more on strengthening institutional pressure than on further capability development, shifting policy focus from supporting adoption to activating existing capabilities at scale.
Copyright (c) 2026 Fredrik Lindblad (Author) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
Digital Transformation, Government Incentives, and Circular Performance in the E-Waste Sector: A Sri Lankan Study
Digital transformation is widely promoted as a catalyst for circular economy transitions; however, empirical evidence regarding whether digitalisation generates measurable circular performance gains in the e-waste sector remains limited. Drawing on socio-technical systems (STS) theory, this study examines how organisational digital enablers drive digital transformation and under what institutional conditions such transformation translates into circular performance. Survey data collected from 279 employees in Sri Lanka’s e-waste sector were analysed using covariance-based structural equation modelling (CB-SEM), moderation analysis, and bootstrapped moderated mediation procedures. The findings indicate that digital resources and digital leadership significantly enable digital transformation. More importantly, digital transformation does not directly affect circular performance. Instead, its effectiveness depends on government incentives, indicating that institutional support functions as a critical boundary condition shaping the performance implications of digitalisation. These findings challenge technology-deterministic assumptions within circular economy and digital transformation literature by positioning digital transformation as a policy-contingent socio-technical capability rather than an inherently performance-enhancing intervention. The study advances STS theory by demonstrating that internally developed digital capabilities require enabling institutional conditions before they can translate into measurable circular outcomes. Practical implications are provided for managers and policymakers designing digitally enabled circular transformation strategies.
Copyright (c) 2026 Amila Kasun Sampath Udage Kankanamge, Michael Odei Erdiaw-Kwasie, Matthew Abunyewah, Thuy An Truong (Author) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
Improvising Circularity: Frugal Innovation and Informal Resource-Recovery Cycles in Pakistan
This study examines how informal recycling intermediaries shape circular material flows through frugal innovation, using the Recursive Resource-Recovery Cycles (3RCs) framework. An inductive grounded theory methodology was applied through two waves of data collection, comprising four pilot interviews and 22 semi-structured interviews in the main stage with actors across six recyclable streams in Pakistan: e-waste, construction and demolition debris, textiles, agricultural waste, plastics, and religious festival waste. The results reveal interconnected networks of waste pickers, aggregators, and stockpile agents who generate value through adaptive practices such as shared transport, manual repair, and improvised upcycling and downcycling. For example, pre-used hybrid vehicles are partially dismantled to exploit tax exemptions and recover residual value. Across streams, a “bag-in-bag” collection method enables progressively higher layered inventories through repeated sorting and bundling cycles. At the same time, intermediaries consolidate loads to lower logistics costs and sustain market access. However, limited traceability, due to neglected resin codes and cash-based transactions, often leads to downcycling. The 3RC framework highlights how improvisation, human agency, and material constraints drive circularity in resource constrained environments through stop gap jugaad innovation arrangements, while pointing to the need for safer technology transfer and supportive formalization.
Copyright (c) 2026 Eve Bohnett, Muhammad Tariq Yousafzai , Wajid Rashid, Gul Ghutai, Neelam Akbar (Author) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
From Circular Systems to Circular Behavioural Regimes: Reframing Circular Economy Transitions
Circular economy research has prioritised technological innovation, business models, and policy frameworks to enable resource efficiency and closed-loop systems. Yet progress toward circularity remains limited, suggesting a persistent misalignment between system design and everyday practice. This perspective argues that circular transitions cannot be understood or achieved without recognising behaviour as a system-level condition rather than an individual outcome. Building on behavioural sustainability research and sustainability transitions theory, it introduces the concept of circular behavioural regimes: stable configurations of routines, norms, incentives, infrastructures, and value systems that reproduce patterns of resource use. It argues that linear and recycling economies persist because they are supported by behavioural regimes that favour convenience, throughput, and disposability. Circular transitions therefore require not only system redesign but also behavioural regime reconfiguration across individual, organisational, and societal levels. By framing friction reduction, capability-building, and social legitimacy as interacting mechanisms of regime change, this perspective positions behavioural sustainability as a foundational condition for circular transformation.
Copyright (c) 2026 Cedric Marvin Nkiko (Author) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
Adult Diaper Waste in Landfills: A Critical Review of Systemic Failure and Pragmatic Pathways
The increasing use of adult incontinence products, driven by global demographic aging, constitutes a major under-addressed waste stream. Our objective was to address this growing problem through a dedicated critical review focused specifically on adult incontinence product waste. A systematic search (PubMed, Science Direct, Google Scholar; 2020–2025) following a modified PRISMA framework identified 20 studies for thematic synthesis. We outline the persistent synthetic composition of adult diapers and their predominant landfill disposal due to regulatory and infrastructure deficiencies. Critical evaluation of LCA and recycling studies revealed that no recycling process has yet reached technological maturity. Based on our evaluation, we propose a pragmatic framework encompassing: (1) policy intervention to mandate landfill diversion; (2) public education to promote separate disposal; and (3) investment in scalable thermal treatment technologies such as Waste-to-Energy incineration with Carbon Capture Utilization and Storage and pyrolysis. Robust Extended Producer Responsibility schemes, coupled with innovative global funding mechanisms, are necessary to enable sustainable AHP waste management in developing countries.
Copyright (c) 2026 Gulnaziya Issabayeva, Karen Mee Chu Wong, Boon Han Lim, Siew Hoong Shuit, Hui San Thiam, Woon Chan Chong (Author) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
Geography and Time: Two Underexplored Barriers to a Circular Economy
Circular economy researchers have catalogued barriers across technological, institutional, economic, and cultural dimensions, yet two structural dimensions remain systematically underexplored: geography and time. Drawing on two recent papers, one on spatial frictions in scaling circular systems and one on time as a structural barrier, in this perspective it is argued that both dimensions introduce compounding constraints. The spatial structure of circular systems shapes whether material recovery is economically viable and institutionally coherent. The temporal structure determines when recovered materials re-enter the economy and how economic actors value delayed returns. Geography and time do not provide a complete account of why circular economy transitions stall, but they are two pieces of a larger and still partly unmapped puzzle. Identifying them more precisely should help researchers and policymakers see where conventional barrier frameworks fall short.
Copyright (c) 2026 Jonas Grafström (Author) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
What is a Circular Road? Defining Circularity for Road Infrastructure
Circular economy (CE) strategies in road infrastructure (RI) remain fragmented and predominantly material-centric, with limited integration of lifecycle governance, demand reduction, and ecological regeneration. While buildings have advanced circular practices, definitions, and guidelines, the road sector lacks a sector-specific definition that reflects its long lifetimes, spatial permanence, public ownership, and continuous maintenance cycles. This study combines a literature synthesis with a stakeholder workshop to identify conceptual and practical gaps in current CE applications for RI. Findings show a dominant focus on recycled materials and construction-phase emissions, while avoidance strategies, design reimagining, long-term traceability, and end-of-life restoration remain underdeveloped. The result of this research is to propose a working definition of circular RI grounded in lifecycle planning, functional adaptability, material stewardship, ecological regeneration, and network optimisation. The definition provides a conceptual foundation for developing indicators, procurement criteria, and governance frameworks that align material cycles, infrastructure performance and ecosystem outcomes.
Copyright (c) 2026 Alexander Grødum Vetnes, Reyn O'Born (Author) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
Indicators for Measuring Circularity of Bio-based Products: A Systematic Review
Circular bioeconomy is emerging as an alternative framework to produce and consume bio-based resources while reducing damage to nature. But after a decade of development of circular economy (CE) indicators, bio-based products are still missing an appropriate body of product-level measurement tools. This review mapped the CE indicators that have been applied to bio-based fertilizers, packaging, and textiles, with the aim of supporting the further development of decision-relevant tools for product circularity (within the BIORADAR project context). Using a systematic literature review of English-language publications (2016-2025) complemented with widely adopted grey literature and standards, 162 scientific literature documents were retained, and complemented with 16 grey literature documents, resulting in 123 distinct indicators that were extracted, coded, and critically assessed. Although general-purpose and sector-applied indicators together form and extensive body of knowledge, the mapped tools remain uneven in robustness and practical applicability: they often rely on context-sensitive assumptions and data that are not consistently available across firms and regions, and they frequently aggregate multiple circularity features into composite scores that can obscure trade-offs. The indicator set also shows persistent gaps, including limited operationalization of the biological cycle, and weak coverage of key life-cycle stages beyond manufacturing. Overall the main challenge is less the absence of additional metrics than the lack of coordination and transparent, comparable calculation conventions; future work should prioritize a tiered, modular measurement architecture combining a standardized core indicator set with bio-based and sector-specific modules supported by clear data requirements and disclosure rules.
Copyright (c) 2026 Hasler Iglesias, María Cámara-Ruiz, Ángeles Pereira, David Fernández-Gutiérrez, Andrés J. Lara-Guillén (Author) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
Navigational Agency of Cooperatives Deploying Technology for Circular Economies
The cooperative identity offers a normative yardstick for transformative change. It implies the democratic control of technology in transitions for just and sustainable circular economies but does not explicitly deal with technology. Since the choice and development of technology is embedded in socio-technical systems, the autonomous choice and cooperative embedding of technology is therefore in question. We explore this challenge as a question of navigational agency, or the capacity of cooperatives to choose and reform practices, and the technologies they involve, in their deployment of circularity strategies. We propose a novel typology of five stances of cooperatives deploying technology for circular economies: adopting technology, recoding technology and asserting alternative spaces as ideal types on a continuum from exported to self-made technology, complemented by political stances of advocacy and conversion to cooperatives. The typology advances the theoretical exploration of a complex, currently understudied topic, while also practically clarifying expectations regarding cooperatives and their capacity to deploy circularity strategies for transformative change.
Copyright (c) 2026 Rafael Ziegler, Justine Ballon, Rick Hölsgens, Karina Maldonado-Mariscal (Author) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
Material Circularity Assessment in Road Scheme Design
There is growing recognition of, and interest in, the potential benefits of the application of circular economy approaches to road infrastructure. This work reports the calculation and consideration of the Ellen MacArthur Foundation’s Material Circularity Indicator (MCI) as a road scheme design-stage circularity metric and considers the practicality of its calculation and its potential to inform sustainable design. The MCI measures the degree to which a product's component materials minimise linear flows and maximize restorative flows, while also accounting for the duration and / or intensity of material use relative to an ‘industry-average’ product. The MCI was calculated for a major road scheme’s baseline design and principal detailed design stage design options – during scheme design. Calculations used scheme design data, with future material recycling efficiency estimated on the basis of current UK practice and the MCI’s utility factor derived from historic traffic flow intensity. The scheme’s baseline design had an MCI of 53.4%, which was improved to 61.3% through the integration of design oportunities that reduced resource consumption and increased material reuse and recycling. Calculation of the MCI facilitated evaluation of resource flow and material circularity and is considered to have value in informing road scheme design-stage resource management, decision making and sustainability.
Copyright (c) 2026 David N. Smith, Emma Maltby, Amelia Mills, Mark Murrin Earp, Brian Laughton, G Foster-Bell (Author) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
Microfiber and GHG Emission Analysis Across the Textile Value Chain: Shifting from End-of-Pipe Solution to Circularity
The rising global demand for synthetic textiles, which accounted for nearly 64% of the market in 2021, has led to a critical accumulation of persistent microfibers and increased greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. This study assesses the textile value chain to identify critical hotspots, revealing that while printing and dyeing are primary contributors to microfiber pollution, the dyeing and finishing stages are also major GHG drivers, projected to generate 1.8 Gt CO₂-eq by 2030. Current "end-of-pipe" mitigation, such as tertiary wastewater treatment, can remove over 99% of microfibers; however, the cumulative remaining fraction and the transfer of microplastics to sludge present ongoing environmental risks. To move beyond these isolated, reactive measures, this study proposes a shift toward circularity by integrating LCA-informed design and sustainable manufacturing. Key circular strategies identified include raw material substitution toward non-persistent fibers, mechanical process modifications to increase yarn twist and stitch density, and the adoption of bio-based finishing modifiers like chitosan and pectin to reduce shedding. By addressing both the methane-intensive agricultural stage and fossil-heavy chemical synthesis, these findings underscore that a holistic circular economy approach is essential to decouple textile production from systemic environmental degradation.
Copyright (c) 2026 Elias Wagari (Author) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
Will the Circular Economy Remain Unloved?
Despite widespread policy attention on the circular economy (CE) transition there is growing evidence of systemic inertia in the consumer context. One recent study suggests a “Titanic effect”, where the current direction of travel is unsustainable and circularity is neither accessible nor desirable to wider audiences. Across academic and grey literature, CE barriers are framed not only as technical or regulatory, but also as behavioural, cultural, and emotional. Trust, confidence, and meaning repeatedly emerge as missing enablers of change, yet policy and scholarship continue to overlook the importance of the role of consumer-brand relationships and emotions in motivating consumers. Drawing on the Multi-Level Perspective (MLP) and the marketing construct of Brand Love (BL), this article argues that the CE remains largely unloved with consumers beyond niche innovations such as Repair Cafés and pre-loved clothing. We propose that BL, defined as deep, enduring emotional attachment beyond satisfaction or loyalty, functions as a mediating relational mechanism that enables niche circular innovations to diffuse and overcome CE inertia. BL acts as a soft “relational infrastructure” in consumer–brand relationships, referring to the trust-based relationships and emotional attachments that make collective change possible beyond formal systems and policies. This soft infrastructure supports the diffusion of niche innovations and motivates consumers to switch to circular products and services with confidence. Since existing BL research has been shaped by linear consumption logic, we suggest further academic studies are needed to adapt BL to circular practices and business models.
Copyright (c) 2026 Trevor Davis, Martin Charter (Author) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
Multi-Stakeholder Data Sharing for the Circular Economy
The transition to a circular economy (CE) depends on effective data sharing across fragmented value chains. Although digital technologies enable the tracking of resources, products, and processes, relevant data are dispersed among stakeholders with divergent interests, capabilities, and regulatory constraints. This article conceptualizes multi-stakeholder data sharing as a central governance challenge for the CE and identifies three core tensions: transparency versus confidentiality, granularity versus feasibility, and multiplicity of platforms versus standardization. We derive implications for governance frameworks and we outline key directions for future research.
Copyright (c) 2026 Leona Henry, Francesca Ciulli (Author) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
The Circular Space Economy: Review, Conceptualization, and Research Agenda for Narrowing, Slowing, and Closing the Loop in Orbit
The Space Economy (SE) is rapidly expanding, yet its reliance on a linear production and consumption model is intensifying the orbital debris problem and stands in tension with the core principles of a Circular Economy (CE). Despite increasing attention to both domains, scholarship at their intersection remains fragmented and conceptually underdeveloped, limiting cumulative theorizing on how circularity can be conceptualized in SE contexts. Addressing this gap, I conduct an integrative review of CE and SE research published between 2010 and 2025, synthesizing the contemporary literature into an organizing framework for conceptualizing the Circular Space Economy (CSE). Building on this synthesis, I advance a ten-point research agenda structured across four distinct yet interdependent pillars: (1) Orbital Property Rights and Governance; (2) Circular Ecosystems and Supply Chains; (3) Circular Business Models and Circular Product Design & Technologies; and (4) Methods and Metrics for CSE. This agenda supports future theory development and empirical research and offers a roadmap for scholars, policymakers, and industry leaders to secure the orbital environment and advance circular resource stewardship on Earth.
Copyright (c) 2026 Felix Carl Schultz (Author) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
Green Consumption Toward a Circular Economy: A Systematic Literature Review Through the Lens of Value Theory
Green consumption is an essential component for the successful implementation of a sustainable development and circular economy. A multitude of research has focused on how different characteristics shape green consumption, being individual values one of the main ones. However, the popularity of individual values on the green consumption literature has resulted in uncertainty about which values should be focused on and under which conditions such values are more or less related to green consumption. To address these problems, the present research reviewed the literature on Schwartz’s Value Theory and green consumption. The review followed the steps of the Scientific Procedures and Rationalities for Systematic Literature Reviews protocol. The final sample of 82 articles in the best ranks of the Australian Business Deans Council Journal Quality List were identified through the Scopus and Web of Science databases. The codification process followed the ADO-TCM framework. The review mainly identified that self-transcendence values, more specifically biospheric values, have been the most frequent and strongly values positively related to green consumption. The main contributions of the review are the better understanding of the relationships between individual values and green consumption, and the identification of an extensive avenue for future studies.
Copyright (c) 2026 Pedro Augusto Bertucci Lima, Ana Mariele Domingues, Janine Fleith de Medeiros, Marcelo Furlan, Judith Irene Maria de Groot (Author) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
Industry 4.0 Technologies in Circular Food Supply Chains: A Systematic Literature Review
This paper explores the transformative role of Industry 4.0 (I4) technologies—specifically Blockchain, Internet of Things (IoT), Artificial Intelligence (AI), Big Data Analytics (BDA), Smart Factories, Robotics—in enabling the circular food supply chain (FSC). Through a systematic literature review, we identify how these technologies contribute to key circular economy (CE) strategies in FSC, comprising reduction, redistribution, valorisation, and nutrient recovery. We also examine implementation barriers, including digital infrastructure gaps, regulatory misalignments, and data interoperability. A conceptual framework is proposed to map digital solutions to CE principles in food systems. Our findings offer actionable insights for scaling up digital-enabled circular practices in the agri-food sector.
[CLOSED FOR SUBMISSION] Application and Integration of Digital Tools for a Circular Economy
Copyright (c) 2026 Pankhuri Bansal , Orr Karassin, Manoj Dora (Author) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
Harnessing Artificial Intelligence for the Integration and Advancement of Circular Economy Practices
Urban waste management faces growing challenges as municipal solid waste is projected to reach 3.4 billion tons by 2050. This study examines how artificial intelligence applications contribute to circular economy transitions in urban waste management through a systematic literature review of 150 peer-reviewed studies and an analysis of commercial implementations. Using the PRISMA framework, we identified AI methods, waste management stages, and circular economy outcomes across academic research and practical deployments. Results reveal that while AI demonstrates strong technical capabilities – particularly in sorting and classification and forecasting – only 31% of studies report circular economy outcomes such as recycling rate improvements or reducucing resource inputs. Both academic research and commercial implementations remain concentrated in downstream recycling activities rather than upstream prevention strategies. The findings highlight a critical gap between technical performance and systemic circular transitions, suggesting that AI adoption must be integrated with governance frameworks, standardized outcome measurement, and multi-stage coordination to effectively advance urban circular economy goals.
Copyright (c) 2026 Christopher Kronenberg, Sezi Cevic Onar, Saman Sarbazvatan (Author) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
A Practical Tool for Sustainable Value-Focused Decision-Making: A Case Study on Climate Actions of Municipalities from the Global North
Research has highlighted the importance of values in sustainability transitions but has not provided practical tools for incorporating them into decision-making. This paper addresses that gap by examining how municipal experts view a digital decision-support tool designed to visualise and communicate the co-benefits and values of climate actions. Through a case study methodology, the research utilises interviews with experts from four municipalities across Australia, Finland, and the United States. The study demonstrates that integrating value-focused thinking and open policy practice can lead to more transparent, inclusive, and context-specific sustainability decision-making. This approach contributes to gradual yet meaningful progress towards circular and sustainable society.
Copyright (c) 2026 Lauri Kurkela, Jouni T. Tuomisto, Kaisa Henttonen (Author) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
Fragmented Circularity: Power Asymmetries and Stakeholder Perspectives in the European Plastics Value Chain
Scholarship increasingly recognises that the move towards circular economy is not merely technical but also socio-political, involving contested meanings, conflicting interests and uneven power relations. We contribute to this literature by showing how different actors in the European plastics value chain encounter distinct barriers and hold unequal levels of power and influence within the chain, shaped by their geographic locations, market positions, and framings of circularity. Based on 22 interviews with 27 European recyclers, manufacturers of plastic products/components, and their representative organizations, we show how uneven perceptions of power and responsibility shape “fragmented circularity”, undermining the effectiveness of circular economy initiatives.
Copyright (c) 2026 Pille Ubakivi-Hadachi, Kairit Kall (Author) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
The Malignant Circle of Circular Economy
While the Circular Economy (CE) is widely regarded as a strategy for sustainability, little research has examined how its principles are distorted and exploited by criminal ecosystems. This study investigates the deviant appropriation of CE practices—such as refurbishing, recycling, and reselling—by organized crime networks, conceptualized as the “malignant circle” of the CE. Using a qualitative approach, the paper synthesizes empirical evidence from global case reports and the literature to analyze how illicit actors distort CE flows to profit and fund criminal activities. The findings reveal six overarching criminal practices that subvert CE principles, including e-fencing, illegal waste dumping, and counterfeit upcycling, perpetuating criminal ecosystems while undermining sustainability goals. A conceptual model and structured typology are introduced to illustrate the feedback loops that sustain this malignant system. The study contributes to the CE and criminology literature by highlighting policy gaps and discussing solutions to disrupt illicit circular flows, with implications for traceability, digital governance, and consumer education.
Copyright (c) 2025 Marcos Ferasso (Author) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
Logistics for Building Circular, Biobased, and Modular: Environmental Impacts in Amsterdam
Circular, biobased, and modular construction practices are gaining traction as cities seek to reduce the environmental impact of the built environment. However, little is known about how these strategies affect construction logistics and their associated emissions. We develop an agent-based model to assess the environmental and spatial impacts of construction logistics in the Amsterdam Metropolitan Region (AMA) under six future scenarios. These scenarios vary in transport modes, construction practices, and logistics hub configurations. Results show that modular construction significantly reduces emissions through delivery consolidation, while circular and biobased approaches present trade-offs. Circular logistics reduce total emissions by sourcing materials locally but increase local emissions and congestion due to more frequent, short-distance trips in case of fossil transport. Biobased construction reduces transport emissions because of lower weight but may increase emissions when materials are sourced from distant suppliers, often located abroad, e.g. in Austria. The study also reveals that water transport lowers CO₂ but often raises NOₓ and PM emissions in case of use of ships with older engines. Also, decentralized logistics networks may perform worse than centralized ones without advanced coordination. These findings emphasize that sustainability benefits depend not just on what is built, but how and where materials are transported. Policymakers and urban planners must weigh both global and local trade-offs when designing logistics systems for sustainable construction. Our model offers a data-driven framework to support such decisions, highlighting the need for integrated, spatially grounded planning approaches in the circular transition.
Data and Data Competencies for a Circular Economy – Data-driven enablement of the digital circular economy
Copyright (c) 2025 Tanya Tsui, Petar Koljenšić, Tim van Binsbergen, Jip Kuiper, Walther Ploos van Amstel, Ruben Vrijhoef (Author) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
Enabling Mechanisms for Circularity in Latin America and the Caribbean
Within Latin America’s strategic importance in the global value chain, circular economy strategies emerge as pivotal pathways for the region. By identifying key enabling mechanisms (namely regulatory frameworks, assessing and monitoring socio-economic metabolism, and financial instruments), this paper unveils the imperative for actions in fostering a circularity transition, and preserving traditional circular economy practices for Latin American and the Caribbean countries in the upcoming decade.
Copyright (c) 2024 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
The Circular Economy: The Butterfly Diagram, Systems Theory and the Economic Pluriverse
One of the most significant challenges facing policy makers and business alike is how to integrate sustainability policy and practice across economics, environment and society. The linkages between these arenas are fundamental to determining the direction of change required. The circular economy is seen as a part of the solution in terms of reducing natural and technological source-and-sink concerns, but significant issues arise concerning biological nutrients and with the concepts of resilience, regeneration and restoration, when viewed through the lens of systems theory. Supply chains represent essential elements in this process, having played active roles in shaping environmental and social history. The role of trade in cultural evolution is explored, highlighting socio-economic linkages. Challenges related to the classic butterfly diagram are identified and a further metamorphosis of this analogy is presented. The concept of an economic pluriverse, nested within a social and ecological pluriverse, is developed.