This study analyzes the sustainability of the circular economy model on winter road maintenance. Winter road maintenance involves plowing snow, spreading abrasives, and then sweeping and collecting the remaining abrasives at the end of the winter season. Traditionally, in the linear approach, the collected sweepings are landfilled, which incurs landfilling costs for resources that could be reused. To address this issue, we consider the option of recycling sweepings for use in the following winter seasons. We develop a discrete-event simulation model that estimates the economic and environmental benefits of this option. Using data from a case study of a highway in Quebec, Canada, the model shows that introducing circular economy practices in winter road maintenance results in less material going to landfills, lower costs, less use of aggregates from virgin materials, and lower CO₂ emissions compared to the linear approach. A subsequent sensitivity analysis reveals that the quantity of sweepings collected greatly influences the outcomes.

The circular economy offers a sustainable solution to the growing challenge of managing residual materials generated or handled by local governments as part of public services. However, the transition toward circular supply chains involves coordinating responsibilities among multiple stakeholders, thereby requiring local governments to review the current governance model. Thus, this study proposes a decision support tool that enables local governments to select the most appropriate governance model for the circular management of residual materials. Structured around an evaluation grid, the tool provides three key contributions: i) the conceptualization of five governance model options, ii) the definition of 13 performance criteria, and iii) the identification of six specific conditions. In addition to insights from the literature, a focus group of experts contributed to the definition and validation of the criteria and specific conditions. The decision support tool was successfully applied to a case study on the reuse of spring street sweepings in winter road maintenance.