Research Information System
6th Symposium on Circular Economy and Sustainability, Alexandroupoli, Greece, 16 - 18 June 2025, pp.1-2, (Summary Text)
The Circular Economy (CE) provides a transformative framework for restructuring agri-food supply chains from linear models toward regenerative, closed-loop systems. Given the sector’s intensive resource use and environmental impact, the integration of CE principles—such as resource efficiency, waste valorization, and regenerative design—is essential [1]. Applications include repurposing organic residues and leveraging digital tools for traceability and resource monitoring [2,3], which help reduce losses and improve system efficiency. However, achieving circularity in agri-food systems requires more than isolated interventions; it demands system-wide coordination and strategic redesign across supply chain stages [4]. To address this complexity, decision-making frameworks are needed to help stakeholders prioritize and implement CE strategies [5]. Tools like Quality Function Deployment (QFD) can translate CE goals into actionable supply chain decisions, supporting long-term sustainability, resilience, and innovation in agri-food systems [6]. In this study, the basic structure of the House of Quality (HoQ) from the QFD methodology is adapted to serve as a decision-making framework for integrating CE principles into agri-food supply chains. To enhance accessibility and reflect real-world expert judgment, the model incorporates linguistic variables through the 2-Tuple Linguistic Model [7] -2TL-HoQ-, supported by Linguistic Hierarchies (LH). This approach allows decision-makers to express their evaluations using linguistic terms of varying granularity, depending on their expertise, thereby fostering a more intuitive, human-centered assessment environment. To validate the framework, five domain experts contributed assessments, each representing a specialized area: sustainability, circular economy, sustainable agriculture, supply chain management, and agri-food systems. Drawing from academic and grey literature, the model identifies eight core CE principles as Customer Needs (CNs), including goals related to waste elimination, regenerative resource use, ecosystem health, energy efficiency, resource circularity, and responsible biomass allocation. These are then linked to six key Design Requirements (DRs) corresponding to critical stages in the agri-food supply chain: material and resource management, production processes, logistics and distribution, packaging and storage, digitalization and traceability, and stakeholder-driven business model innovation. The resulting framework offers a structured, yet flexible tool to support strategic decision-making under CE priorities in agricultural contexts. The following figure (also showing the detected CNs and DRs) presents an example of the second expert’s assessment—representing the supply chain domain—for the relationship matrix within the HoQ. Based on individual assessments provided by five experts, the final prioritization of the DRs was obtained through an aggregation process. Subsequently, a sensitivity analysis was conducted to examine how variations in CE priorities influence the resulting rankings. The findings of this study, based on expert assessments and scenario-based sensitivity analysis, highlight the strategic centrality of Digitalization and Traceability (DR5) in advancing circular agri-food supply chains. Its robust performance across diverse contexts reflects both its systemic importance and alignment with emerging policy trends such as the EU Digital Product Passport and broader digitalization in agriculture. In contrast, other DRs demonstrated scenario-dependent variation: DR2 and DR1 showed consistent relevance in process- and input-focused scenarios, while DR6 gained prominence under collaborative and systemic transition contexts. DR3 and DR4 remained lower in priority, suggesting that without integration into broader strategies—such as reverse logistics or consumer engagement—they offer limited leverage for CE transformation. These findings offer multiple academic implications. First, they validate the robust prioritization of DR5 as a foundational requirement for circular transition in agriculture [4]. Second, they reveal the adaptive relevance of certain DRs (e.g., DR1, DR6), which gain or lose importance depending on the CE objective emphasized. Third, the application of scenario-based weighting within the QFD framework provides a nuanced understanding of how diverse CE visions influence strategic priorities across the supply chain. This not only supports more tailored decision-making but also enhances the explanatory power of QFD as a methodological tool for structuring complex sustainability trade-offs. Ultimately, this approach demonstrates the value of integrated, expert-informed, and flexible design frameworks in supporting the strategic transformation of agri-food systems under CE paradigms.