A Classification Tool for Circular Supply Chain Indicators
Abstract
The Circular Economy approach has gained attention recently. Supply Chains have an important role in the transition to a more circular economy. Thus, being able to assess structurally the circularity of multi-activity Supply Chains is essential to help Supply Chain managers to decide in this transition. An important number of Supply Chains’ indicators are proposed in the literature in the context of sustainability. However, to the best of our knowledge, there is no tool, which specifically classifies those indicators according to Circular Supply Chain structures, involving circular activities such as reuse, remanufacturing, refurbishing and repurposing. The aim of this work is to develop such a classification tool for indicators in order to assess the circularity of Supply Chains at the strategic level. This classification tool relies on the three main principles of circular value creation of Ellen MacArthur Foundation. These principles are converted into different dimensions that could be applied to the structures of Circular Supply Chains. These dimensions constitute classification criteria for our tool. In this work, new potential Circular Supply Chain indicators are also proposed and classified by the tool. This tool allows and facilitates academics and Supply Chain managers categorizing and choosing appropriate indicators to assess circularity within Circular Supply Chains.