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An important presumed social impact of the circular economy (CE) is job-creation for vulnerable groups. This creates opportunities for Work Integration Social Enterprises (WISEs), which are established to organize economic activities for workers with a distance to the labour market. In this paper, we identify challenges, opportunities, and sustainability aspects for WISEs in the CE. We apply Computable General Equilibrium (CGE) model results and conduct 20 expert interviews, providing an empirical contribution to recent research agendas on the social impact of the CE and the role of WISEs in Circular Societies. Our results show that WISEs should not take job-creating opportunities of the CE for granted, most specifically in the business-to-business (B2B) markets they are active in. While WISEs conceive competitive advantages to perform core CE jobs, they need to develop organisational capabilities to convert this potential into high added value activities within regionally embedded circular value chains. When identifying conditions for sustainable growth paths, we reveal a strong interconnectedness between social, environmental, and economic dimensions. We recommend management professionals and policy makers to measure, validate, and communicate social and circularity outcomes and invest in partnerships along value chains and across policy domains.

Secondary raw material (SRM) markets are key to delivering a circular economy in the EU. These markets can ensure the timely circulation of good-quality recycled materials in the European economy, which minimises the need to extract natural resources as a result. This report develops a new framework for assessing SRM market functionality. Of the eight SRM markets assessed under this framework, only three are well-functioning (aluminium, paper and glass). These markets were established a long time ago, are international and open, and occupy a significant market share of their respective material supply. Five assessed SRM markets (wood, plastics, biowaste, aggregates from construction and demolition waste, and textiles) are not well-functioning. The main reasons are their small size, weak demand (even with increasing supply) and inadequate technical specifications. Despite the strong policy push to increase recycling and the steady supply of recyclates that has resulted from this, the supply side of SRM markets is challenged. The main problems are insufficient specifications such as the end-of-waste criteria, and the presence of hazardous substances in recycled materials. The demand side, on the other hand, is characterised by a lack of trust in SRMs. There is hesitance to invest in technologies that would integrate SRMs into raw material supply operations. A cross-cutting issue impacting market functionality is the lack of adequate information for interested stakeholders, and the absence of a monitoring mechanism to observe the market and propose improvements. There are a few pathways to help SRM markets function more smoothly. These include expanding or modifying existing policy tools at the EU level; for example, by including fee eco-modulation in extended producer responsibility schemes. Otherwise, pathways include extending the use of green public procurement; making recycling targets more effective or expanding them to more waste materials; further developing en

The circular economy (CE) has gained prominence in recent years in government and business policies, as well as academic research. Yet, its alleged wholesomeness is increasingly questioned and few quantitative studies include both the outer (e.g. recycling) and inner circles (e.g. reduce or reuse), respectively the ex-ante least and most efficient CE strategies. By developing a supply chain equilibrium model, based on general equilibrium theory, this paper presents a modelling framework where a product-service system is introduced as a circular alternative to conventional products. Through generalised prices that cover inner and outer circle variables, targeted economic and fiscal policy measures affect overall price levels and, by consequence, operational levels of the supply chain. The rationale behind this approach relies on combining material and economic efficiency by integrating material/product life cycles with market interactions. To illustrate its performance, the model examines the rollout of a reusable plastic bottle initiative in Belgium. The results show that if circular products are perceived as substitutes for conventional products, well-targeted policies can reduce material use substantially. Furthermore, coordinating circular policies along the supply chain can improve their outcomes. However, the absence of CE data impedes model development and risks undermining the validity of the results.