Circular Economy at the Firm Level: A New Tool for Assessing Maturity and Circularity

Abstract

Although the circular economy (CE) concept is gaining traction and methods to assess companies’ CE-related aspects exist, there is no established CE assessment tool. In many cases, it is not clear how metrics or indicators included in extant CE assessment methods have been selected. To fill this gap, this paper presents a new instrument named Circularity and Maturity Firm-Level Assessment tool (CM-FLAT). The CM-FLAT has been developed starting from a transparent scientific basis, i.e., a recent systematic literature review and comprehensive collection of CE metrics. In addition, it targets the separate assessment of CE maturity, i.e., the presence of documented activities and practices laying the foundations for CE introduction, and circularity, i.e., attained CE-related performances. The development of the CM-FLAT has foreseen its formal evaluation by experts in the field of CE and sustainability, and its testing by a pilot group of companies from South Tyrol, Italy. The multiple verification activities have confirmed its usefulness and usability. Therefore, companies can now benefit from a tool capable of providing a comprehensive framework of factors and organizational areas affecting the introduction of the CE. This will be fostered by a computer-supported tool implementing the CM-FLAT, which represents the authors’ future work.

Paving the Way for Circular Supply Chains: Conceptualization of a Circular Supply Chain Maturity Framework

“…Only a few studies that focus on quality, sustainability or circularity consider products. Noteworthy among these are the studies of Cooper et al (1997), EFQM (2010), Garcia Reyes and Giachetti (2010), Almeida Santos et al (2020), andSacco et al (2021) providing the most extensive maturity scope and thus the greatest aptitude for application in the context of the circular economy. Almeida Santos et al (2020) outline that existing maturity models are superficial and do not include in detail the elements necessary to measure the level of maturity in sustainability.…”

“…The seven competency areas suppliers, production, inventory customers, HR, Information systems and technology management and performance management systems cover the dimensions process, company, and network. Sacco et al (2021) present the Circularity and Maturity Firm-Level Assessment tool (CM-FLAT) as a comprehensive framework of factors and organizational areas affecting the introduction of the circular economy. The researchers highlight a low adoption of circular practices by most studies and practitioners.…”

A Circularity Indicator Tool for Measuring the Ecological Embeddedness of Manufacturing

“…However, the majority of circularity indicators remain focused on economic considerations related to material and resource cycling, with few exceptions. For example, the eco-connectance and by-product and waste recycling rate [63] considers eco-connectance among companies in eco-industrial parks, and the Circularity and Maturity Firm-Level Assessment tool (CM-FLAT tool) recognises that maturity should be assessed together with circularity at the firm level [19].…”

“…There is also recognition that there is low applicability of CE methods in industrial realities [19]. Hence, a holistic approach based on best practices and recognising maturity levels in industry together with accessible implementation is desirable.…”

Sustainable Circular Micro Index for Evaluating Virtual Substitution Using Machine Learning with the Path Planning Problem as a Case Study

“…The indexes are composed of elements that are measurable and related to the same objective. In this way, tools are developed to measure the impact [30]. In addition, [31] establishes a circular model for detecting the benefices for enterprises.…”