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.

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.

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. .

This paper is concerned with the management of multi-plant manufacturing networks. Two key concepts in this domain are plant roles and plant autonomy in the context of operations strategy decision-making. We investigate the relationship between these two concepts and their impact on plant performance. We use data from 102 manufacturing plants belonging to multi-plant networks. The results suggest a relationship between plant roles and operations strategy decision-making structures. Plants with high levels of decision-making autonomy typically have high levels of production, supply chain, and development competences, while plants with a low level of decision-making autonomy are primarily those with only production site competences. Integrated structures for operations strategy decision-making, which include both the network level and the plant level, exist for all plant types and are thus not restricted to plants with a certain set of site competences. In accounting for both the plant type and decision-making structure, we were unable to detect any significant differences between groups in terms of performance effects. Instead, it seems that the fit between plant type and decision-making structure is important and that choosing the right type of operations strategy decision-making structure moderates the performance of plants with low site competence levels.

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.

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.

Recycling plays a vital role in preserving resources like steel and consequently in a circular economy. Scrap dealers and steel mills, the main business units in this system, often encounter opposing financial and sustainability incentives in using scrap as feedstock because regular sorting and scrap-preparation infrastructure cannot deal with the increasing complexity of steel scrap. Mismatches between the inputs and the target composition of the recycled steel result in trade-offs that favor the economics at the expense of resource efficiency. By examining literature and interviewing several actors, different scrap characteristics were identified as dimensions of scrap quality. Quality is typically associated with chemical composition, which is important, but this study aims to elaborate the concept of quality further and to connect it to the realities of scrapyard operations. Industry actors have different definitions for desired content, physical condition, shape and size, and homogeneity, based on their needs. Very few studies examine these details. Additionally, the relationship of quality and the level of information about the characteristics of the material was established. Having more definitive information on scrap increases opportunities for resource-efficient actions. This work offers an alternative perspective on how to address issues pertinent to recycling.

Graphical Abstract