Enabling sustainability and resilience in industries through the value chains’ circularity and digitalisation

Living for the last decades in a linear world has emerged the necessity for resources reduction, reuse, and recycling, leaving behind the “take-make-waste” economic model and jumping over towards a cyclical ecologic system. Especially for the industrial environments, the efficient management of resources, the need for prevention and the circular designing and planning, have shown the path towards alternative approaches, new technologies and services, and cutting-edge solutions. Digitalisation technologies (Digital Twins, big data analysis, etc.), secondary raw materials, circular supply chains, integrated sustainability frameworks and standards, Digital Product Passports, are some of the solutions, services and tools that assemble to facilitate a green and digital transition, considering the circular economy aspects, and targeting to resiliency and sustainability. Under this scope, three industries focus on transforming their supply chains into circular, green and sustainable ones using advanced traceability approaches. The ordinary supply chains of a citrus juice company in Greece, the processes of managing Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) for magnets and Carbon Fiber Reinforced Polymer (CFRP) for drones, are assessed using the Sustainability Balanced Scorecard, to empower the business opportunities, to enhance traceability and lead to sustained value chains. KEYWORDS: industrial value chains, sustainability, resiliency, circularity, digitalisation ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The research methodology, pilots’ activities and results presented in this article are part of the H2020 Plooto project, which has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon-2020 research and innovation program under grant agreement No. 101092008. The responsibility for the content of this publication lies with the authors. It does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the European Union. The European Commission is not responsible for any use that may be made of the information contained therein.