The mining sector, like other sectors of the economy, is under increasing pressure to adopt circular economy (CE) principles across its value chains and core operations. This paper offers a critical and conceptually grounded contribution to understanding how CE can support systemic transformation in one of the most resource-intensive and path-dependent sectors of the global economy. It examines the structural and institutional conditions that shape the adoption of CE in mining and identifies key tensions that constrain or enable transformative change. In parallel, the paper explores emerging pathways informed by technological innovation, shifts in production routines, and the rise of new circular business models. These insights are synthesised into a multi-level framework that captures the dynamic interactions between micro-, meso-, and macro-level processes shaping CE transitions. In addition to offering a diagnostic perspective, the framework outlines concrete action points for advancing systemic change.

While steel is the most recycled material, it is often downcycled due to the accumulation of unwanted elements. These not only diminish its quality, but represent a resource loss. Previous research has looked into the causes behind the accumulation of tramp elements in the metal and the resource loss stemming from current recycling processes. Nevertheless, these rarely consider the complex interactions between industrial practices, resource flows and system constraints, nor examine time delays in the system. This exploratory study is a first attempt to use Causal Loop Diagrams to bring together and map these interdependencies, incorporating time delays to better understand the accumulation of unwanted elements and its impact on the future of the metal recycling industry. Persisting with current practices risks creating accumulations of overly-contaminated scrap, thereby jeopardising the future of metal recycling,

The global expansion of solar energy presents a paradox: while it is a key sustainable technology, a comprehensive waste management strategy for decommissioned solar panels remains insufficient. Previous studies have examined this issue, yet waste volume estimations remain incomplete due to the exclusion of early waste streams and the failure to account for temporal fluctuations in key variables. This study addresses these gaps by employing System Dynamics Modelling (SDM) to capture a more nuanced understanding of the heterogeneity of decommissioned panels. The findings reveal significant discrepancies between projections from conventional static models and those generated by the developed model, underscoring the need for more adaptive forecasting methods that account for temporal variations and the evolving characteristics of decommissioned panels. Furthermore, this paper highlights the inefficiencies of uniform waste management approaches, emphasizing the need for differentiated strategies based on panel characteristics. Crucially, the findings challenge the recycling-centric paradigm by exposing the overlooked potential of functional discarded panels, advocating for circular strategies that prioritize reuse and secondary markets.

Aiming to reach circularity and resource efficiency, the metal industry pushes towards recycling secondary products instead of producing from primary material. This increases the use of scrap, which can bring about several benefits but could also come at the expense of the materials' quality and the potential loss of valuable resources. The above is mainly a result of the likely accumulation of unwanted elements throughout the recycling process, which may dissolve and become difficult to extract from the metal's melt, turning into what is known as tramp elements. This study focuses on the opportunity to limit the accumulation of unwanted elements before they end up in the molten solution. Taking an exploratory approach with the use of observation and expert interviews, this study examined where and how unwanted elements enter the recycling system. Eight element types were identified and categorised after the intentionality of their addition and their desirability in the end product. Thereafter, this article proposes a taxonomy based on the way in which these are present inside the furnace before melting, suggesting that the manner elucidates the entry points where impurities are introduced in the recycling stream. By introducing a taxonomy, this study aims to pave the way for developing strategies and research on how to minimise or prevent the presence of these elements in recycled metals, thereby increasing the quality of the recycling process.

While steel is the most recycled material, it is often downcycled due to the accumulation of unwanted elements. These not only diminish its quality but also represent a resource loss. Previous research has looked into the causes behind the accumulation of tramp elements in the metal and the resource loss stemming from current recycling processes. Nevertheless, these rarely consider the complex interactions between industrial practices, resource flows and system constraints, nor examine time delays in the system. This exploratory study is the first attempt to use Causal Loop Diagrams to bring together and map these interdependencies, incorporating time delays to better understand the accumulation of unwanted elements and its impact on the future of the steel recycling industry. The findings suggest that persisting with current practices risks creating accumulations of overly-contaminated, unusable scrap, thereby jeopardising the future of metal recycling.

Uncertainties with respect to the chemical composition of scrap limit its suitability as an input to recycling. This study offers an alternative approach in dealing with this concern and explores the hypothetical case where this uncertainty is nonexistent. The effect of fully knowing the scrap composition is simulated using an optimization software adopted to scrap-based, stainless-steel production. Through the systematic implementation of this information-driven model in the studied cases, the results suggest that with access to perfect information, recycling incentives can be realized. Essentially, the steel scraps’ consumption increased since it was possible to select and combine scrap quantities with varying composition profiles to achieve the targeted product compositions. This also meant that elements already in the scrap were allocated in a manner that was less dependent on pure alloy additions. Being able to demonstrate the value of information on scrap composition could rationalize upgrades on current scrap management systems.

The current nature of steel design and production is a response to meet increasingly demanding applications but without much consideration of end-of-life scenarios. The scrap handling infrastructure, particularly the characterization and sorting, is unable to match the complexity of scrapped products. This is manifested in problems of intermixing and contamination in the scrap flows, especially for obsolete scrap. Also, the segmentation of scrap classes in standards with respect to chemical compositions is based on tolerance ranges. Thus, variation in scrap composition exists even within the same scrap type. This study applies the concept of expected value of perfect information (EPVI) to the context of steel recycling. More specifically, it sets out to examine the difference between having partial and full information on scrap composition by using a raw material optimization software. Three different scenarios with different constraints were used to appraise this difference in terms of production and excess costs. With access to perfect information, production costs decreased by 8–10%, and excess costs became negligible. Overall, comparing the respective results gave meaningful insights on the value of reestablishing the compositional information of scrap at the end of its use phase. Furthermore, the results provided relevant findings and contribute to the ongoing discussions on the seemingly disparate prioritization of economic and environmental incentives with respect to the recycling of steel.

This Element investigates the relationship between the narcotics industry and politics and assesses how it influences domestic political dynamics, including economic development prospects in Latin America. It argues that links between criminal organizations, politicians, and state agents give rise to criminal politics (i.e., the interrelated activity of politicians, organized crime actors, and state agents in pursuing their respective agendas and goals). Criminal politics is upending how countries function politically and, consequently, impacting the prospects and nature of their social and economic development. The Element claims that diverse manifestations of criminal politics arise depending on how different phases of drug-trafficking activity (e.g., production, trafficking, and money laundering) interact with countries' distinct politico-institutional endowments. The argument is probed through the systematic examination of four cases that have received scant attention in the specialized literature: Chile,Paraguay, Peru, and Uruguay.

There is a policy, academic and industry consensus that tackling the repercussions of climate change, resource depletion, and increasing social inequality requires urgent and systemic industrial transformations. Over 30% of global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions come from industry and industry-related emissions. The circular economy has been proposed as a concept or tool to achieve sustainability for production systems. The transition into a circular economy constitutes an end to linear modes of production and consumption. This chapter discusses circular economy approaches for carbon- and energy-intensive industry. This includes how to narrow supply chain loops by reducing the footprint of the material or product, slowing loops to prolong the use of a product or material (e.g. by repairing) and closing loops to restore the materials or the product (e.g. recycling). By closing material loops there is a huge potential to reduce both energy consumption and GHG emissions at a global scale.

Sustainable entrepreneurship, that is, venturing with the aim of contributing to a shift of practices towards environmental and social sustainability, is an increasingly prominent phenomenon. This article investigates how sustainability ventures orient between dual – commercial and environmental – logics when conducting the legitimation work necessary to secure their first major partnership with an incumbent firm. Specifically, we study multiple cases of partnerships on food waste reduction. This setting is characterised by limited tension between the two logics, which implies that ventures are not forced into hybridity. We find some indications that ventures are able to draw on both types of logic to legitimate their ventures. However, the dominant pattern is that sustainability ventures tend to orient their legitimation work around a salient founding logic. Our analysis suggests that this pattern can be attributed partly to organisational imprinting, but also to legitimation work in this context being inherently logic-specific to a significant degree. This seems to be particularly true for ventures with a salient environmental logic.

The configuration of closed-loop supply chains (CLSCs) for original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) to recover and remarket products has been discussed as a crucial pathway in the transition towards the circular economy (CE). However, in the context of the CE, circular supply chains (CSCs) have an extended role to recover materials and minimize waste that goes beyond the particular firm’s product recovery and remarketing. Thus, the open-loop supply chains (OLSCs) have an equally important role to play as supply chain configurations where actors other than the OEM engage in product and material recovery. While the literature on CLSC is a mature field, studies that analyze the complementary nature of CLSC and OLSC in addressing the transition to the CE are scant. Based on a systematic literature review (2007–2021), this paper contributes to literature by identifying some of the characteristics of OLSC, providing empirical illustrations, and developing a conceptual framework of the open- and closed-loop supply chain continuum.

Supply network collaboration has been recognised as a vital enabler in the transition to a circular economy. Even so, the existing literature has directed limited attention to the nature of these relationships and the motivation behind them. Hence, there is a need to understand the actual activities of actors engaged in collaboration to address this knowledge gap. The steel industry presents an interesting example. Given that more than one-third of the world's steel production originates from scrap, its supply is essential to the survival of the steel industry. Based on an explorative case study, this paper investigates collaboration of steel producers, a procurement intermediary and scrap dealers to facilitate steel recycling. These actors deal with the practical challenge of variation in the quantity and quality of steel scrap by engaging in various types of collaboration. This paper seeks to analyse the nature of these collaborations and answer the question of why actors engage in supply network collaboration. The paper identifies a complex web of relationships and outlines differing motives for and against collaboration, with specific focus on three types. While quality control is the main motive in dyadic vertical collaboration between a buyer and a supplier, efficiency is the main motive for both horizontal collaboration between buyers and lateral collaboration amongst all actors in the supply network. Thus, this paper adds to the conventional wisdom of sequential, dyadic, linear and vertical relationships, providing a deeper understanding of the types of supply network collaboration from the underexplored context of steel recycling.