Barriers to the Circular Economy in the Plastics Industry: A Systematic Literature Review

Despite the high economic importance of the plastic industry worldwide and the capacity of plastic to be recycled multiple times due to its ability to preserve its value and properties, the plastic recycling sector still needs to be developed and more cohesive. Thus, there is a need to understand what is hindering plastic recycling. To that end, this paper presents a systematic literature review of the barriers to implementing the circular economy principles in plastic industries, investigating 30 articles retrieved from the SCOPUS database and published between 2008 and 2022. The systematic literature review identified forty-one barriers clustered into seven categories: social, organisational, economic, supply chain, technological and informational, institutional, and market barriers. This study aids practitioners and managers in identifying the main barriers that may be hindering the adoption of circular economy practices within their businesses.