Circular Economy Matchmaking Framework for Future Marketplace Deployment

Lucyna Łȩkawska-Andrinopoulou, Georgios Tsimiklis, Sarah Leick, Manuel Moreno Nicolás and Angelos Amditis
Additional contact information
Lucyna Łȩkawska-Andrinopoulou: Institute of Communication and Computer Systems (ICCS), National Technical University of Athens, 15773 Athens, Greece
Georgios Tsimiklis: Institute of Communication and Computer Systems (ICCS), National Technical University of Athens, 15773 Athens, Greece
Sarah Leick: GS1 Germany GmbH, 50825 Cologne, Germany
Manuel Moreno Nicolás: EuroVértice Consultores S.L., Parque Científico de Murcia, 30100 Murcia, Spain
Angelos Amditis: Institute of Communication and Computer Systems (ICCS), National Technical University of Athens, 15773 Athens, Greece

Sustainability, 2021, vol. 13, issue 10, 1-22

Abstract: Online marketplaces enable cooperation between potential stakeholders by supporting offer and demand identification at the secondary raw material markets. The use of marketplaces facilitates communication between supply chain actors operating within the same or different industry sectors and enables detection of ways to close the loop of their products. This research investigated which criteria to use for the circular cooperation matching of companies in the context of a marketplace. These criteria were used for the development of a circular economy (CE) matchmaking framework based on a multi-level approach and relevance scoring between the users. The multi-level approach is based on the following criteria: (i) the compliance with circular economy principles, (ii) the material flows analysis, (iii) the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from transport. Based on those aspects a Total Relevance Score (TRS) between the stakeholders is calculated. The Total Relevance Score indicates the possibility for successful circular cooperation between two partners who are willing to close their loops with the best possible match. The logic behind the proposed circular economy matchmaking framework is illustrated by four cases using data collected from companies. Recommendations for further deployment are proposed. The developed framework, by incorporating circular economy principles for the first time within the matching algorithm, provides the opportunity for interested stakeholders for more tailored matching and increases their possibilities of finding a perfect match on the secondary raw materials market in terms of circularity. A similar approach has not yet been reported in the literature. The circular economy matchmaking framework constitutes a theoretical basis of an online marketplace to be developed.

Keywords: circular economy; matchmaking framework; CE collaboration; online marketplace (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/10/5668/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/10/5668/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:13:y:2021:i:10:p:5668-:d:557239

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

More articles in Sustainability from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().