Reclassifying circular economy indicators: an intensive literature review

Technology and system advances in the Supply Chain (SC) significantly increase the flow of materials within and across organisations. The high velocity and volume of materials flow however are accompanied by equally high volume of resources consumption and high volume of wastes outputs. As a remedy, Circular Economy (CE) principle which asserts that “nothing is produced to be waste”, should be emphasised in decision-making. However, the CE-indicators currently used in the practices and literature are fragmented, impeding the accuracy and efficiency of the decision-making process in organisations. This research thus aims to provide a new classification for the current diverging indicators to facilitate the process of achieving CE. The research method employed in this article is a systematic and extended literature review. 23 CE-indicators were identified coming from 27 articles (n.b. most publications include more than one set of CE-indicators). The CE-indicators are reclassified according to the nature of CE-indicator (collection, weighted sum or complex composite), type of base components constituent the CE-indicators, life-cycle and supply chain entity target, as well as intensiveness. This research contributes to the theory by providing a new perspective in categorising the current CE-indicators and to better aid decision-making processes.