Hierarchical analysis of barriers to circular business models in the recycling industry.

Abstract

Circular business models in manufacturing, especially in the recycling industry, face many barriers that need to be managed and mitigated for successful business implementation. Therefore, this study aims to analyse the hierarchy of the main barriers to the implementation of circular business models in the recycling industry and evaluate strategies to overcome them. To achieve this goal, we first conducted a systematic literature review on barriers to implementing circular business models. Second, barriers were prioritized through a survey followed by an expert focus group. Building on these steps, we used interpretive structural modeling combined with a 'matrix of cross-impact multiplications applied to classification' to identify the hierarchy among barriers and describe their interdependencies. As key findings, 10 barriers were prioritized through a survey to identify the most important barriers for the recycling industry. The hierarchy of these barriers highlights regulation and government incentives as the most important, followed by those related to supply chain collaboration and lack of material flow indicators. Finally, internal barriers appear as high investments and associated risks. Finally, we suggest strategies to overcome these barriers based on their hierarchy. The implications of this study provide a proposal of strategies for implementing circular business models in the recycling industry, derived from the hierarchical correlation among the barriers, and can be applied in different regions through expert opinion assessment.