Driver, barriers, and practices towards the adoption of a sustainable supply chain and circular economy : experiences from South Africa’s flexible packaging industry

Abstract

Sustainability and circular economy have seen an increase in coverage both within the media as well as in academic literature in the past decade. The ever-growing population has placed pressures on production to increase capacity while the development of downstream infrastructure for handing the post-consumer waste has been left significantly underdeveloped. This as lead to an increase in waste going to landfills or polluting the parks and oceans of the planet. Consumers and governments have begun to act against unsustainable practices and policies of organisations are forcing organisations to adopt sustainable practices or run the risk of taxation, levies, and even backlashes in sales from consumers. The time has arrived for organisations to fully embrace sustainability and a circular economy as adopting sustainability has never been more relevant. Organisations across the supply chain of the flexible packaging industry in South Africa (as well as in other industries globally) have been using sustainable as a source of competitive and strategic advantage. Given the importance of this topic, this research investigates the internal and external, drivers, barriers, and practices based on the experiences of industry experts within the supply chain of flexible packaging in an emerging economy (South Africa). The research covers current literature on sustainability, the circular economy, as well as the drivers, barriers, and practices towards them. Through investigating an industry within an emerging economy, the research looked to provide contributions to the extant literature and theory as well as identify new insights (refinements or extensions). The findings of this research identified three areas of difference and possible refinements and extensions to the theory. In conclusion on the drivers, barriers, and practices towards sustainability and circular economy, the researcher provides recommendations to managers and other business stakeholders on how to move towards sustainability and circular economy, as well as highlight possible further areas for research.