Circular supply chains in emerging economies – a comparative study of packaging recovery ecosystems in China and Brazil

Abstract

This paper provides a circular supply chain perspective of packaging recovery ecosystems being implemented by Tetra Pak, a prime global player in the food packaging industry, in two major emerging economies: China and Brazil. The circular supply chain archetype considered in the research allowed a consistent comparative analysis of Tetra Pak's circular supply chains in both countries. Through a case study approach, the research provides theoretical propositions and learning points that are valuable for academics and practitioners interested in the Chinese and Brazilian markets as well as in the supply chains supporting recovery ecosystems in the packaging industry. In particular, the distinct environments in the Chinese and Brazilian markets render Tetra Pak opportunities to design circular supply chains in different ways showing adaptation and learning to local market characteristics. The industrial perspectives from these emerging economies add to the contributions offered in the paper. Overall, the conceptual considerations and practical recommendations presented in the paper provide useful insights for the development of further studies and implementation of industrial practices advocated by the circular economy.

Reverse logistics and the sectoral agreement of packaging industry in Brazil towards a transition to circular economy

“…The transition to a circular economy predicated on production systems that take into account opportunities for reverse cycles (closed-loops) of waste outputs posits a crucial importance on the role that reverse logistics and reinforcing legislations, such as the sectoral agreements conidered in this paper, can play to enable circular flows involving the recovery of materials (Howard, Hopkinson, and Miemczyk, 2018). Indeed, the critical role of the legal framework to promote transitions to the circular economy is acknowledged in a recent study by Batista et al (2019), who point out that the legal framework represents the cognitive, normative, and regulative pillars of the institutional environment of a country, and it can reinforce the implementation of existing recycling agreements by implementing more favorable policies and incentives to recyclers and related cooperatives. Some actions to implement circular economy as waste reduction and the 4Rs, as pointed out by Kalmykova, Sadagopan and Rosado (2018), it is already been implemented by NGOs, industries and consultancy firms in Brazil.…”

“…The third agreement, currently being implemented, considered as the most advanced one in terms of implementation phasis, is the 'Sectoral Agreement for the Implementation of the Reverse Packaging Logistics System in General', which was signed in November 2015 (SINIR, 2018). Considering the particularities related to packaging, it was planned the support for cooperatives of waste pickers and partnerships with retailers for the installation of voluntary delivery points (SINIR, 2018;Batista et al, 2019). In this context, it is important to point out that in Brazil, waste pickers account for almost 90% of recycled waste (Institute of Applied Economics Research -IPEA, 2012).…”

“…Qualitative research based on case studies provide a helpful methodological approach to demonstrate how circular economy is being implemented in real world scenarios and the role that regularoty mechanisms can play in the context. Moreover, we recognize that circular economy is a wide concept based on resource efficiency systems with a broad spectrum of restorative approaches such as Reuse, Repair, Remanufacture, Recycling and so forth (Batista et al, 2019). This paper is particularly related to the Recycling approach of the circular economy, enabled by the Reverse Logistics systems that operationalize the return and revalorization of the waste, in the same or diverse industrial sectors.…”

Who is in charge? A review and a research agenda on the ‘human side’ of the circular economy

“…In this context, CE principles can mediate the already positive relationship between GHRM and firm performance. The CE can have a positive effect on firms' performance because it can promote innovation (Pieroni et al, 2019), better use of resources (Steinmann et al, 2019;Smart et al, 2019) and more efficient operations management (Batista et al, 2018;Govindan and Hasanagic, 2018). This is because proactive environmental attitudes among employees, triggered by GHRM initiatives (Paillé et al, 2014;Pham et al, 2019;Subramanian et al, 2019), can lead to more successful implementation of CE business models, which, in turn, will affect the relationship between GHRM and firms' sustainability performance (Subramanian et al, 2018).…”

“…The focus of CE research so far has been on operations management (Koh et al, 2017), technology (Masi et al, 2018;Batista et al, 2018), historical factors (Smart et al, 2017), methodology (Tse et al, 2016), resource management (Steinmann et al, 2019;Fischer and Pascucci, 2017), innovation (Pieroni et al, 2019), CE indicators (Howard et al, 2018), limitations of the concept (Korhonen et al, 2018) and economic aspects of the CE (Subramanian et al, 2018). Issues concerning HRM, and the human side of the CE in general, have largely gone unnoticed in the literature (Esposito et al 2015), and explorations of the role of HRM dimensions in the CE have been only recently begun.…”