Description
The circular economy (CE) principles have been created in response to the depletion of natural resources as a set of guidelines to eliminate the linear take-use-disposition model of product consumption. The consequences of moving from a linear supply chain to a circular one are difficult to
visualize in the long term. Therefore, in some cases, implementing a circular economy simulation tool in linear processes of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) is essential to test policies before implementing them in the real world. This study aimed to evaluate the dominant service
logic, ecosystem services, system dynamics, and agent-based modeling to design a methodology for a simulation model implemented in two life cycle case studies: a food bank and a confectionery factory. In both cases, visits and interviews were made with interested parties to evaluate the simulation model during the development phase. The circular economy indicator prototype (CEIP), whose score was 52% (rated as a ”good” product), was used as the circular maturity measure of the confectionery factory. We used NetLogo software to execute the simulation models for each case study, implementing a scenario analysis based on CE policies. Various variables were used in these analyses related to the process’s costs and the amount of discarded and recycled products. The main contribution of this work is the methodology implemented in two real case studies in Mexico, in which we designed two simulation models to evaluate circular economy strategies in future scenarios. In addition, in the case of the confectionery factory, the simulator allowed interested parties to understand the operation of the recycling process and to visualize all the variables involved in the system.utilizaron diversas variables en estos análisis relacionadas con los costos del proceso y con la cantidad de producto desechado y reciclado. El principal aporte de este trabajo es la metodología implementada en dos casos de estudio reales en México en el que se diseñó dos modelos de simulación para evaluar estrategias de economía circular en escenarios futuros. Además, en el caso de la fábrica de confitería el simulador permitió a los interesados comprender el funcionamiento del proceso de reciclaje y visualizar todas las variables involucradas en el sistema.
