IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v14y2022i12p7246-d837930.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

An Explorative Study of Circularity Practices in Swedish Manufacturing Companies

Author

Listed:
  • Filip Skärin

    (Department of Industrial Product Development, Production and Design, School of Engineering, Jönköping University, 551 11 Jönköping, Sweden)

  • Carin Rösiö

    (Department of Industrial Product Development, Production and Design, School of Engineering, Jönköping University, 551 11 Jönköping, Sweden)

  • Ann-Louise Andersen

    (Department of Industrial Product Development, Production and Design, School of Engineering, Jönköping University, 551 11 Jönköping, Sweden)

Abstract

Due to the accelerating global warming crisis, interest in the concept of circular economy (CE) has started to excel. Adapting to a CE is especially important for manufacturing companies as they play major part in the global warming crisis. Hence, studying how manufacturing companies are transitioning to fit in a CE is highly relevant. Thus, the research question posed in this study is: How are manufacturing companies approaching circularity and which circularity practices can be identified? To answer the research question, a document study was carried out, wherein the latest available sustainability reports of the 20 largest manufacturing companies in Sweden were studied. A four-step process was followed, including sample selection, circularity extraction, data coding and data analysis. The findings include the creation of 61 unique circularity categories based on numerous identified circularity practices. This study focused identifying circularity practices, not only from a product perspective but for all resources and assets utilized by the company; hence, whilst many of the identified circularity practices involve product design, circularity practices have also been identified related uniquely to, e.g., manufacturing, for instance, in terms of reusing resources. Practical implications for this study include a clear overview of how Swedish manufacturing companies are working towards circularity and which specific circularity practices they mention in their sustainability reports.

Suggested Citation

  • Filip Skärin & Carin Rösiö & Ann-Louise Andersen, 2022. "An Explorative Study of Circularity Practices in Swedish Manufacturing Companies," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(12), pages 1-23, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:14:y:2022:i:12:p:7246-:d:837930
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/14/12/7246/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/14/12/7246/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Kannan Govindan & Mia Hasanagic, 2018. "A systematic review on drivers, barriers, and practices towards circular economy: a supply chain perspective," International Journal of Production Research, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 56(1-2), pages 278-311, January.
    2. Agnieszka Janik & Adam Ryszko & Marek Szafraniec, 2020. "Greenhouse Gases and Circular Economy Issues in Sustainability Reports from the Energy Sector in the European Union," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(22), pages 1-36, November.
    3. Raphaëlle Stewart & Monia Niero, 2018. "Circular economy in corporate sustainability strategies: A review of corporate sustainability reports in the fast‐moving consumer goods sector," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 27(7), pages 1005-1022, November.
    4. Riccardo Tiscini & Laura Martiniello & Rosa Lombardi, 2022. "Circular economy and environmental disclosure in sustainability reports: Empirical evidence in cosmetic companies," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 31(3), pages 892-907, March.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Vitiana L'Abate & Nicola Raimo & Francesco Albergo & Filippo Vitolla, 2024. "Social media to disseminate circular economy information. An empirical analysis on Twitter," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 31(1), pages 528-539, January.
    2. L'Abate, Vitiana & Raimo, Nicola & Vitolla, Filippo, 2023. "Circular Economy Disclosure through Social Media: An Empirical Analysis on Twitter," EconStor Conference Papers 279493, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics.
    3. Filippo Vitolla & Vitiana L’Abate & Felice Petruzzella & Nicola Raimo & Antonio Salvi, 2023. "Circular Economy Disclosure in Sustainability Reporting: The Effect of Firm Characteristics," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(3), pages 1-15, January.
    4. Zhang, Abraham & Wang, Jason X. & Farooque, Muhammad & Wang, Yulan & Choi, Tsan-Ming, 2021. "Multi-dimensional circular supply chain management: A comparative review of the state-of-the-art practices and research," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 155(C).
    5. Christof Falkenberg & Carina Schneeberger & Siegfried Pöchtrager, 2023. "Is Sustainability Reporting Promoting a Circular Economy? Analysis of Companies’ Sustainability Reports in the Agri-Food Sector in the Scope of Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive and EU Taxo," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(9), pages 1-21, May.
    6. Marcelo Werneck Barbosa, 2022. "A Critical Appraisal of Review Studies in Circular Economy: a Tertiary Study," Circular Economy and Sustainability,, Springer.
    7. Rodrigues Dias, Veruska Mazza & Jugend, Daniel & de Camargo Fiorini, Paula & Razzino, Carlos do Amaral & Paula Pinheiro, Marco Antonio, 2022. "Possibilities for applying the circular economy in the aerospace industry: Practices, opportunities and challenges," Journal of Air Transport Management, Elsevier, vol. 102(C).
    8. Gebhardt, Maximilian & Spieske, Alexander & Birkel, Hendrik, 2022. "The future of the circular economy and its effect on supply chain dependencies: Empirical evidence from a Delphi study," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 157(C).
    9. Chowdhury, Soumyadeb & Dey, Prasanta Kumar & Rodríguez-Espíndola, Oscar & Parkes, Geoff & Tuyet, Nguyen Thi Anh & Long, Dang Duc & Ha, Tran Phuong, 2022. "Impact of Organisational Factors on the Circular Economy Practices and Sustainable Performance of Small and Medium-sized Enterprises in Vietnam," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 147(C), pages 362-378.
    10. Camelia-Daniela Hategan & Ruxandra-Ioana Pitorac & Nicoleta-Daniela Milu, 2021. "Assessment of the Mandatory Non-Financial Reporting of Romanian Companies in the Circular Economy Context," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(24), pages 1-17, December.
    11. Manavalan Ethirajan & Thanigai Arasu M & Jayakrishna Kandasamy & Vimal K.E.K & Simon Peter Nadeem & Anil Kumar, 2021. "Analysing the risks of adopting circular economy initiatives in manufacturing supply chains," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 30(1), pages 204-236, January.
    12. Ipek Kazancoglu & Muhittin Sagnak & Sachin Kumar Mangla & Yigit Kazancoglu, 2021. "Circular economy and the policy: A framework for improving the corporate environmental management in supply chains," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 30(1), pages 590-608, January.
    13. Matteo Pozzoli & Raffaela Nastari & Sabrina Pisano & Marco Venuti, 2023. "How Circular Economy Disclosure Responds to Institutional Determinants Empirical Evidences in Non-Financial European Firms," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(22), pages 1-20, November.
    14. Zafar Husain & Annayath Maqbool & Abid Haleem & R. D. Pathak & Danny Samson, 2021. "Analyzing the business models for circular economy implementation: a fuzzy TOPSIS approach," Operations Management Research, Springer, vol. 14(3), pages 256-271, December.
    15. Federico Barnabè & Sarfraz Nazir, 2022. "Conceptualizing and enabling circular economy through integrated thinking," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 29(2), pages 448-468, March.
    16. Tina Wiegand & Martin Wynn, 2023. "Sustainability, the Circular Economy and Digitalisation in the German Textile and Clothing Industry," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(11), pages 1-30, June.
    17. Rohit Agrawal & Vishal A. Wankhede & Anil Kumar & Sunil Luthra, 2021. "Analysing the roadblocks of circular economy adoption in the automobile sector: Reducing waste and environmental perspectives," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 30(2), pages 1051-1066, February.
    18. Monia Niero & Charlotte L. Jensen & Chiara Farné Fratini & Jens Dorland & Michael S. Jørgensen & Susse Georg, 2021. "Is life cycle assessment enough to address unintended side effects from Circular Economy initiatives?," Journal of Industrial Ecology, Yale University, vol. 25(5), pages 1111-1120, October.
    19. Patricia van Loon & Luk N. Van Wassenhove & Ales Mihelic, 2022. "Designing a circular business strategy: 7 years of evolution at a large washing machine manufacturer," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 31(3), pages 1030-1041, March.
    20. Abderahman Rejeb & Karim Rejeb & Suhaiza Zailani & Yasanur Kayikci & John G. Keogh, 2023. "Examining Knowledge Diffusion in the Circular Economy Domain: a Main Path Analysis," Circular Economy and Sustainability,, Springer.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:14:y:2022:i:12:p:7246-:d:837930. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.