6.3 Implications for Management 133
133
Table 24 Mapping of challenges to circular economy approaches
Circular Economy
ApproachExamples from the
Case StudyChallenges identified in the Case StudyCircular Supplies
(product)Biological cycle: bio-
degradable apparel
Technical cycle:
chairs of which all
parts can be disas-
sembled, refurbished
and resold• Customer education required to ensure
product returns
• Poor collaboration within industries
and beyond, e.g. collaboration with oth-
er industries such as chemical industry
facilitates the development of substitutes
• Technological limitations to substitute
conventional material and enable recy-
cling without loss of quality
• Difficult selection and cooperation with
suppliers for the development of circular
products due to disclosure of product
recipes, intense R&D and new business
model of reverse logistics
• Increased costs for resources, e.g. due to
missing infrastructure for reverse logis-
tics and no transparency on products at
the end of the lifecycle
• Delayed return on investment
• Missing economies of scale, no critical
mass in production and low market
share due to low number of engaged
organizations
• Insufficient practical experience,
especially with reverse logistics and
refurbishing products due to longevity
of products
Resource Recovery Collection of fabric
scrap and reuse for
production
Purchase of recycled
resources from re-
spective suppliers• Poor collaboration within industries
and beyond leads e.g. to no transparency
of toxicity level of reused resources
• Increased costs for resources
• Missing legal regulations to make reuse
of material commercially attractive
Remanufacturing Reuse of certain parts
of an apparel product
which are still in
good condition and
can be reused to
create new smaller
products (e.g. from
jacket to scarf)• Missing infrastructure for reverse logis-
tics and no transparency on products at
the end of the lifecycle