An Extended Circular Supply Chain Model Including Repurposing Activities

Abstract

Repurposing concerns the reuse of products or materials for a different purpose from its original function, creating material flows between distinct supply chains. This circular economy activity reduces waste and creates new value. It remains scarcely explored in the literature and often limited to a small scale in practice. This paper proposes an extended approach to model circular supply chains considering repurposing as a firstclass citizen. A hierarchical framework of the principal circular economy activities including repurposing activities is introduced first. The framework is then integrated into an extended model that conceptualizes the circular supply chain structure in a generic way. The proposed model allows to represent and analyze the material flows as well as the activities of circular supply chains.