Assessing the readiness of manufacturing companies for the Circular Economy: an explorative study of the Italian textile industry

Manufacturing companies frequently struggle to understand where to start in approaching Circular Economy, as fundamental changes are needed in the design of products, production processes, business models and supply chains. Literature investigated Circular Economy readiness assessment for manufacturing organizations in a scattered way. Thus, this research proposes a model (C-Readiness) to assess the readiness of manufacturing companies for the Circular Economy, based on a review of previous tools. The model has been applied to 18 companies belonging to the Italian textile supply chain. Results show that the textile sample is still far from a full circularity adoption (48 points out of 100). Strengths were detected in the design of circular textile products and in the eradication of single-use plastics. However, companies are still weak in circular supply chain management, reuse, recycling, and product-as-a-service business models. Overall, the C-Readiness model supports manufacturing companies in assessing their Circular Economy potential, giving insights on how to approach such systemic transition.