This paper aims to identify the critical barriers to the circular economy (CE) within South African manufacturing companies and further model the barriers. A literature review was done to identify the barriers of CE in the context of South Africa and used as an input in the interpretive structural modeling (ISM) technique. This study discovered that the key challenges to CE adoption in the South African manufacturing industry are a lack of proper communication of the CE objectives, which dramatically impacts the whole system, indicating that it should be prioritized. The removal of all the CE obstacles will enhance the firm’s competitiveness in the market. The unique contribution of this study is the alternate approach used in theory building. The CE barriers were identified in the context of South Africa and further the interrelationships among the barriers were presented. The findings will be helpful for managers and policymakers. Supplementary Information The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s42943-023-00070-6.