An organisation's sustainability performance is influenced by its capabilities (skills, resources and competences) which in turn affects the performance of its entire supply chain. However, recent research has not sufficiently explored the convergence of dynamic capabilities, circular economy, resilience and Industry 4.0 concepts for manufacturing supply chains. Therefore, this study aims to identify how dynamic capabilities theory can enable circular and resilient supply chains. A qualitative research process was deployed in three stages: literature review, European project and nine expert interviews. Key investigative variables were used to identify capabilities used in manufacturing, and five research propositions were developed to address the gaps found in literature. The empirical data helped reveal challenges to circular economy implementation and validate the literature findings. The main contributions include a dynamic capabilities model, a causal relationship model and five research propositions for circular economy implementation.

The meat industry generates a large amount of animal by-products not only derived from the slaughter process but also due to the losses and waste of meat products along the supply chain, contributing to the world’s food loss and waste problem. Yearly, 1.7 Mt of meat in the European retail sector and 20% of meat for consumption is wasted in this sector of the supply chain. Therefore, the aim of this paper was to find and evaluate alternatives for the valorisation of agri-food residues, more specifically the meat waste from the food retail sector, through a technological perspective. Thus, we delve into the industrial processes already implemented and the emerging procedures that use muscle, bones and fats by-products from poultry, cattle and pork as the main raw materials in order to identify and characterise them. The results indicate that in addition to the current destinations—landfill, incineration and the rendering process—these animal by-products can be incorporated in the production of biodiesel, food formulations, pharmaceuticals, fertilisers and biogas through an industrial symbiosis approach. Consequently, the several valorisation processes and procedures identified not only suggest an increase in concern about the impacts of the disposal of these materials, but also highlight the potential associated with the use of animal by-products as raw material to obtain added-value products.

In recent years, the Twin-Transition reference model has gained notoriety as one of the key options for decarbonizing the economy while adopting more sustainable models leveraged by the Industry 4.0 paradigm. In this regard, one of the most relevant challenges is the integration of data-driven approaches with sustainability assessment approaches, since overcoming this challenge will foster more agile sustainable development. Without disregarding the effort of academics and practitioners in the development of sustainability assessment approaches, the authors consider the need for holistic frameworks that also encourage continuous improvement in sustainable development. The main objective of this research is to propose a holistic framework that supports companies to assess sustainability performance effectively and more easily, supported by digital capabilities and data-driven concepts, while integrating improvement procedures and methodologies. To achieve this objective, the research is based on the analysis of published approaches, with special emphasis on the data-driven concepts supporting sustainability assessment and Lean Thinking methods. From these results, we identified and extracted the metrics, scopes, boundaries, and kinds of output for decision-making. A new holistic framework is described, and we have included a guide with the steps necessary for its adoption in a given company, thus helping to enhance sustainability while using data availability and data-analytics tools.

Industrial symbiosis (IS) is a business model that proposes symbiotic exchanges, allowing the flow of resources, wastes, and utilities between companies. In recent years, IS initiatives have been exponentially growing around the world. This can be attributed to the increasing awareness on the possibility of obtaining economic, environmental, and social benefits through the implementation of this model. Despite the exponential growth of IS initiatives, the companies are still facing problems in the achievement of reliable and permanent synergies. Over the years the literature has identified several factors in the IS emerging process. Incentives are among these factors, being defined as unlocking tools or mechanisms related to diverse dimensions such as economic, political, social, intermediaries, process, and technology. Authors believe that the large-scale implementation of IS incentives has not been properly addressed. In order to promote facilitated IS implementation and achieve a replicator effect, incentives should be fully addressed. In many case studies, it has been observed that the incentives for IS can be threatened by risks, compromising the implementation, and hindering the emerging process. This study developed a dedicated framework that is composed of incentive identification from best practices of IS and expert consultation; a risk assessment model based on risk factors identification and clustering; and finally, the mitigation actions based on the assessment outputs. The main result of this study is one set of mitigations actions that correlate the implementation levels (clusters) and the potential stakeholders involved.

Dairy industry wastewater is rich in organic content, presenting a high biodegradability, and therefore biological treatments are widely employed. This study aimed to evaluate biosolids production in three systems: activated sludge (AS), movingbed biofilm reactor (MBBR), and sequencingbatch movingbed biofilm reactor (SBMBBR). Simulated dairy wastewater was used at different organic load rates (OLRs): 1.22, 2.87, and 5.44 g_COD L⁻¹d⁻¹. Besides biosolids production, COD, total carbon (TC), and total nitrogen (TN) removal efficiency was evaluated. Biosolids production was measured in the mixed liquor, carrier-adhered biomass, treated wastewater, and surplus sludge. The operational conditions were kept similar for the three systems, with a carrier filling ratio of 50% for MBBR and SBMBBR. The SBMBBR proved to have better performance in the removal efficiencies of COD, TC, and TN for all OLRs studied. The MBBR presented a similar COD and TC removal efficiency as the SBBR for the two highest OLRs (2.87 and 5.44 g_COD L⁻¹d⁻¹). Concerning biosolids production, the MBBR system produced less biomass and delivered the lowest amount of adhered biomass inside the carriers. The AS treatment generated the highest amount of sludge and offered the worst treatment capability for all OLRs evaluated.

The increase of industrial symbiosis (IS) activities around the world has strongly contributed to promote awareness among companies on the benefits of this business model and, consequently, their interest to apply/incorporate dedicated IS actions in their activities. In most cases, companies assume self-learning and ongoing approaches for the adaption of synergies, ignoring some fundamental aspects as the full spectrum of considerations regarding these processes. Unexpected barriers frequently appear during the implementation process and become hardly overcome due to incomplete systematic approaches and the lack of information. In this context, it is important to promote effective and sequential guidance procedures regarding IS implementation processes to support companies in their transition to full IS processes implementation. This paper aims to advance the synergy implementation emerging process, through the identification, promotion, and definition of the core steps to be considered in an IS implementation process. This study is based on a comprehensive perspective for the definition of contents to be considered in a step-by-step guideline that includes the different theoretical, technical, and strategic approaches for large-scale IS promotion. The main outputs of this paper are a final set of independent and sequential information clusters, their associated contents identification process, and a comprehensive description of the systematic approach used to support companies in the implementation of their pre-identified stages. The guideline methodology proposed in this study is an important support tool for companies, practitioners, and agents intending to initiate IS synergies implementation and also a strong contribution to the development of complementary guidance activities regarding IS implementation process.