The Circular Economy Shift for Business Models: Creating value from waste in the Peach Canning industry

With the Circular Economy (CE) concept emerging, the reorganization of the supply chain (SC) and the reengineering of its processes is highlighted. In Greece, industrialized agriculture and more specifically the peach canning industry can be an important factor for the economy within and outside the country’s borders, with the total yearly exports worth at around 400 million euros. However, an important source of waste is not utilized in the optimal way; the kernel is often mistaken as a useless by-product or at best as biomass. This paper focuses on the optimization of this supply chain achieved through CE applications, by separating the seed from the kernel’s wooden exterior and utilizing it to create new products that will provide added value for the SC, while the wooden exterior serves as biomass feedstock. The resulting products studied include (i) the peach oil which can be consumed as is or in cosmetics and (ii) natural medicine. The above mentioned are investigated and valued, in order to shift the peach canning industry’s business model, thus reinventing the sector. Finally, the new optimized SC framework is presented under the prism of CE, which can be applied for other processed stone fruits.