Circular economy readiness index for supply chains: Evaluating industrial clusters in the Aburrá Valley

As global resource scarcity and environmental challenges intensify, the transition to a circular economy (CE) has become increasingly urgent. Companies and their supply chains play a crucial role in this transition, being primary drivers of resource use and waste generation. Measuring CE implementation in companies and supply chains is therefore essential for promoting sustainable economic development and resource efficiency. This study presents a novel approach to assess the CE readiness of companies and supply chains through a Circular Economy Readiness Index (CERI) based on CE enablers and resource flows. The CERI considers several categories of enablers, reflecting a company's strategic vision towards circularity, and three categories of flows, which indicate a company's circularity performance. The index was applied to 265 companies in the construction sector and 263 companies in the textile/clothing/fashion sector in Colombia's Aburrá Valley region, allowing measurement at the company, supply chain actor, and industrial cluster levels. Results reveal a critical level of CE readiness in both clusters, indicating significant improvement opportunities. Better performance was observed for flows than for enablers, suggesting good resource management practices but a lack of strategic understanding and commitment to CE principles. The study identifies needs for implementing CE strategies across supply chain actors, emphasizing improvements in enablers such as awareness, training, investment in CE initiatives, and stakeholder collaboration. It underscores the necessity for a comprehensive approach to accelerate the transition towards circular supply chains, highlighting the importance of both strategic enablers and operational resource flows in implementing circular business models and practices.