Circular plastics packaging-Prioritizing resources and capabilities along the supply chain

Implementing the circular economy (CE) in the plastic packaging sector is considered a crucial step towards the adoption of more sustainable practices. However, despite the presence of regulatory CE targets, the plastic packaging sector's transition is not speeding up sufficiently to reach them. Individual companies need to reconfigure their resource base and develop complementary resources and capabilities to improve the systems performance. Based on the resource-based view, this study identifies and prioritizes the most important resources and capabilities for a circular transition along the plastic packaging supply chain. Accordingly, expert opinion was analyzed using a combination of a real-time Delphi method and an analytic hierarchy process. Two aspects were of utmost importance for the experts: collaboration capabilities between upstream and downstream actors, and design capabilities that create simpler and recyclable products. When prioritizing resources and capabilities, potential conflicts between reactive and proactive CE strategies were found. Further research is proposed to (i) develop adequate framework conditions to enable higher waste management targets, (ii) apply dynamic, natural and extended resource-based views to better understand the effects of collaboration networks in CE and their dynamics, and (iii) investigate supply chain power relationships to understand the impacts of supply chain transformations.

Automated summary

Implementing the circular economy in the plastic packaging sector is crucial for sustainable practices, but the transition is not happening fast enough. Companies need to reconfigure their resources and develop collaboration and design capabilities to improve performance. This study identifies the most important resources and capabilities for a circular transition in the plastic packaging supply chain, with collaboration and design capabilities being prioritized. Potential conflicts between reactive and proactive strategies were found when prioritizing resources. Further research is proposed to develop framework conditions, apply dynamic resource-based views, and investigate supply chain power relationships.