IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v14y2022i18p11528-d914782.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The Procurement Agenda for the Transition to a Circular Economy

Author

Listed:
  • Mazen A. Al-Sinan

    (Procurement & Supply Chain Management, Saudi Aramco, Dhahran 31311, Saudi Arabia)

  • Abdulaziz A. Bubshait

    (Department of Construction Engineering & Management, King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals, Dhahran 31261, Saudi Arabia)

Abstract

The circular economy (CE) has emerged as an upcoming promising solution to global sustainability. Some policymakers have issued legislations to encourage the adoption of CE, and academics have published studies addressing CE from different approaches. However, adopting CE entails a disruptive shift from a linear economy to a closed-loop economy, where economic growth is decoupled from consumption growth. Though it is difficult to develop a uniform, structured approach for incorporating CE into procurement, this paper attempts to fill the current knowledge gap by proposing a holistic framework to embed CE into the procurement process. The procurement ecosystem is very complex, and this study accordingly dismantles the ecosystem into basic components. The integration of CE for each component is addressed separately. Propositions have then been developed for each element within the procurement ecosystem to embrace CE. The research findings suggest that governments can play an important role in promulgating laws and regulations that encourage CE within procurement. The buyer should be willing to pay a premium for circular products or services; training is needed to address CE when drafting the agreement and during the technical and proposal evaluation. In regard to the bidders’ prequalification evaluation, a certain weight should be assigned to the adoption of CE. Furthermore, the bid–award system should give preferential treatment to circular materials or services.

Suggested Citation

  • Mazen A. Al-Sinan & Abdulaziz A. Bubshait, 2022. "The Procurement Agenda for the Transition to a Circular Economy," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(18), pages 1-24, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:14:y:2022:i:18:p:11528-:d:914782
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/14/18/11528/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/14/18/11528/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Mazen A. Al-Sinan & Abdulaziz A. Bubshait, 2022. "Using Plastic Sand as a Construction Material toward a Circular Economy: A Review," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(11), pages 1-17, May.
    2. Juan-Manuel Valverde & Carmen Avilés-Palacios, 2021. "Circular Economy as a Catalyst for Progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals: A Positive Relationship between Two Self-Sufficient Variables," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(22), pages 1-16, November.
    3. Jorge Alfredo Cerqueira-Streit & Gustavo Yuho Endo & Patricia Guarnieri & Luciano Batista, 2021. "Sustainable Supply Chain Management in the Route for a Circular Economy: An Integrative Literature Review," Logistics, MDPI, vol. 5(4), pages 1-21, November.
    4. Susanne Arvidsson & John Dumay, 2022. "Corporate ESG reporting quantity, quality and performance: Where to now for environmental policy and practice?," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 31(3), pages 1091-1110, March.
    5. Kirchherr, Julian & Reike, Denise & Hekkert, Marko, 2017. "Conceptualizing the circular economy: An analysis of 114 definitions," Resources, Conservation & Recycling, Elsevier, vol. 127(C), pages 221-232.
    6. Leticia Fuertes Giné & Emanuela Vanacore & Agnieszka D. Hunka, 2022. "Public Procurement for the Circular Economy: a Comparative Study of Sweden and Spain," Circular Economy and Sustainability, Springer, vol. 2(3), pages 1021-1041, September.
    7. Gianmarco Bressanelli & Marco Perona & Nicola Saccani, 2019. "Challenges in supply chain redesign for the Circular Economy: a literature review and a multiple case study," International Journal of Production Research, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 57(23), pages 7395-7422, December.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Mazen A. Al-Sinan & Abdulaziz A. Bubshait & Fatimah Alamri, 2023. "Saudi Arabia’s Journey toward Net-Zero Emissions: Progress and Challenges," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(2), pages 1-24, January.
    2. Abderahman Rejeb & Andrea Appolloni, 2022. "The Nexus of Industry 4.0 and Circular Procurement: A Systematic Literature Review and Research Agenda," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(23), pages 1-21, November.

    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. Gianmarco Bressanelli & Federico Adrodegari & Daniela C. A. Pigosso & Vinit Parida, 2022. "Towards the Smart Circular Economy Paradigm: A Definition, Conceptualization, and Research Agenda," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(9), pages 1-20, April.
    2. Dennis Vegter & Jos van Hillegersberg & Matthias Olthaar, 2021. "Performance Measurement Systems for Circular Supply Chain Management: Current State of Development," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(21), pages 1-18, November.
    3. Gabi Försterling & Ronald Orth & Benjamin Gellert, 2023. "Transition to a Circular Economy in Europe through New Business Models: Barriers, Drivers, and Policy Making," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(10), pages 1-40, May.
    4. Daniel Jugend & Hugo Henrique dos Santos & Susana Garrido & Regiane Máximo Siqueira & Jaime A. Mesa, 2024. "Circular product design challenges: An exploratory study on critical barriers," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 33(5), pages 4825-4842, July.
    5. Luiz C. Terra dos Santos & Adrielle Frimaio & Biagio F. Giannetti & Feni Agostinho & Gengyuan Liu & Cecilia M. V. B. Almeida, 2023. "Integrating Environmental, Social, and Economic Dimensions to Monitor Sustainability in the G20 Countries," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(8), pages 1-18, April.
    6. Patrizia Ghisellini & Ivana Quinto & Renato Passaro & Sergio Ulgiati, 2024. "Exploring environmental and social performances of circular start‐ups: An orientation and certification assessment," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 33(4), pages 3222-3241, May.
    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. Feroz Khan & Yousaf Ali, 2022. "Implementation of the circular supply chain management in the pharmaceutical industry," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 24(12), pages 13705-13731, December.
    9. Ekaterina Blinova & Tatyana Ponomarenko & Valentin Knysh, 2022. "Analyzing the Concept of Corporate Sustainability in the Context of Sustainable Business Development in the Mining Sector with Elements of Circular Economy," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(13), pages 1-30, July.
    10. Paraskevopoulou, Christina & Vlachos, Dimitrios & Bechtsis, Dimitrios & Tsolakis, Naoum, 2022. "An assessment of circular economy interventions in the peach canning industry," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 249(C).
    11. 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).
    12. Arijit Bhattacharya & Shefali Srivastava & Abhijit Majumdar, 2024. "Circular supply chains in manufacturing—Quo vadis? Accomplishments, challenges and future opportunities," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 33(5), pages 4397-4423, July.
    13. Animesh Ghosh & Prabha Bhola & Uthayasankar Sivarajah, 2022. "Emerging Associates of the Circular Economy: Analysing Interactions and Trends by a Mixed Methods Systematic Review," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(16), pages 1-41, August.
    14. K. E. K. Vimal & Ming-Lang Tseng & Samanyu Raju & Mahesh Cherukuri & Amith Ashwithi & Jayakrishna Kandasamy, 2022. "Circular function deployment: a novel mathematical model to identify design factors for circular economy," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 24(7), pages 9068-9101, July.
    15. Henrique Sala Benites & Paul Osmond & Deo Prasad, 2023. "A neighbourhood‐scale conceptual model towards regenerative circularity for the built environment," Sustainable Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 31(3), pages 1748-1767, June.
    16. Oana Dobre-Baron & Alina Nițescu & Dorina Niță & Cătălin Mitran, 2022. "Romania’s Perspectives on the Transition to the Circular Economy in an EU Context," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(9), pages 1-26, April.
    17. Laura Montag, 2023. "Circular Economy and Supply Chains: Definitions, Conceptualizations, and Research Agenda of the Circular Supply Chain Framework," Circular Economy and Sustainability, Springer, vol. 3(1), pages 35-75, March.
    18. Usama Awan & Robert Sroufe & Karoly Bozan, 2022. "Designing Value Chains for Industry 4.0 and a Circular Economy: A Review of the Literature," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(12), pages 1-20, June.
    19. Jorge Alfredo Cerqueira-Streit & Patrícia Guarnieri & Luciel Henrique de Oliveira & Jacques Demajorovic, 2023. "From Trash to Profit: How Packaging Waste Management Has Driven the Circular Economy—An Integrative Literature Review," Logistics, MDPI, vol. 7(3), pages 1-19, September.
    20. Simone Wurster & Luana Ladu, 2022. "Triple-C: A Tridimensional Sustainability-Oriented Indicator for Assessing Product Circularity in Public Procurement," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(21), pages 1-23, October.

    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:18:p:11528-:d:914782. 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.