According to the statistics presented by the BBC, e-waste is increasing in our society. Excessive use of plastic made electronic products causes to increase pollution in society unless appropriate recycling or elimination methods are employed by the companies to overcome these increasing statistics. According to a current statistical report about e-waste, the plastic used in our electronic products is expected to generate 110m tones of waste by 2050.A rough estimation shows that plastic-based e-waste is increasing by 50 million tones annually. Considering this increasing e-waste in the world, a PolyCE campaign is started by the European Commission. According to this campaign, companies are encouraged to follow up on the concept of the circular economy (CE) to save the environment from getting polluted. Even emphasis is given on circular economy (CE) and many organizations are trying to implement this concept in their operations but still, the situation is not changing (Kinver, 2019). A key reason is the failure of these companies to implement circular economy (CE) properly. There are some barriers that cause to create hurdles and reduces the effectiveness of the circular economy (CE) related strategies in the companies.

According to a research study organized by the students of a Royal Institute of Technology, Sweden, shows that some common barrier in the way of circular economy (CE) are concerned with the financial status and social norms of the society in which a company operates. The researcher has categorized these barriers in different categories which are technological barriers, operational barriers, structural barriers, financial barriers, and attitudinal barriers. A fine example of the financial barrier is the focus of shareholder and corporate management of the company on profit maximization. Shareholder and owners seek for the opportunity to increase profit while they pay less importance to the environmental impact generated by their operations on our society(Ritzén & Sandström, 2017).

Excluding, organizational perception towards sustainability and risk aversion are also barriers to a circular economy (CE). However, in some companies old and less efficient types of machinery and equipment are in use for production processes because of the unavailability of advanced technologies or lack of attention given to replace old technologies with advanced technologies. Thus technological barrier causes issues for the circular economy (CE). Take the example of companies with improper information and communication system. Manual recording and paper based memo causes to increase paper waste. Such paper waste can be controlled by implementing IT-based information system in the company where employees will use e-mail and internal chat options to communicate with colleagues rather than using paper based memos(Blumberg, 2004).

Although, increased dependency on partners also causes challenges for owners to ensure the circular economy (CE) in their businesses. In partnership based and joint venture companies, all investors are required to accept a policy before its implementation. Contradiction in shareholders perceptive and conflict of interest causes problems for the implementation of circular economy (CE) approach in the production sectors.

The cultural and social barrier also draws an impact on circular economy (CE) approach application in the industrial sectors. For instance, in some societies, the law and regulation system is strict about industrial practices and environmental impact. In these societies, people consider it against social norms to generate pollution in the environment as they give preference to the benefit of society on their individual benefits. While on the other hand, in some societies social norms and cultural norms are supportive of monetary benefits and individual benefits. People living in these societies just think about their individual benefits even at the expense of public benefits. In such societies and countries, law and regulation are also not enough strict to control such practices which result in the increase of environmental pollution. Take the example of China and the US. In China, the waste disposal system is not enough strict as compared to the waste disposal system of US restaurants (Kirchherr, et al., 2018).

Another barrier to the circular economy (CE) approach implementation is the use of wrong business models. According to an article published by Stanislaus in 2019, companies working in the clothing industries (some companies working clothing industries are Nike, Zara and Adidas) can reduce their environmental impact by the use of non-toxic dyes in the coloring process. While on the other hand, such companies can also recycle cloth scraps to produce lower value undergarments. Additionally, companies focus on excessive sales of their products to generate revenue. In this revenue based business models, companies add extra cloth to produce innovation and fashion dresses for their customers. The business model also draws an impact on the use of materials to produce a product. For instance, in a profit oriented business model, clothing companies even use toxic materials and one time used batteries only. While the use of lithium batteries is supportive of the circular economy (CE) approaches (Stanislaus, 2018).               

Lack of education and awareness is also a reason why companies failed to implement circular economy (CE) approach. Sometimes corporate managers decide to ensure practices of circular economy (CE) in the organizations but when it comes to lower level managerial staff and workers it becomes a useless strategy(Oghazi & Mostaghel, 2018). Workers follow up the same old pattern rather than adopting new changes. Even sometimes lower level managerial staff also supports them to keep their operations unchanged. However, such situations can be controlled by spreading awareness in employees working at all levels of an organization. Training and development sessions can reduce the impact of educational and behaviorist barriers.

References of Barriers for Business & Circular Economy 

Arthur. (2018). What is a Circular Economy? Retrieved October 24, 2019, from www.changinggears.net: https://www.changinggears.net/what-is-circular-economy/

Blumberg, D. F. (2004). Introduction to Management of Reverse Logistics and Closed Loop Supply Chain Processes. CRC Press.

credoreference. (2019). Recycling. Retrieved October 24, 2019, from https://search.credoreference.com/content/topic/recycling

electronics-tutorials. (2019). Closed-loop systems. Retrieved October 24, 2019, from https://www.electronics-tutorials.ws/systems/closed-loop-system.html

Foundation, E. M. (2011). Re-thinking Progress: The Circular Economy. Retrieved October 24, 2019, from www.youtube.com: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zCRKvDyyHmI&t=60s

Kinver, M. (2019). Electronic devices 'need to use recycled plastic'. Retrieved October 24, 2019, from www.bbc.com: https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-50046859

Kirchherr, J., Piscicelli, L., Bour, R., & Kostense-Smit, E. (2018). Barriers to the Circular Economy: Evidence From the European Union (EU). Ecological Economics, 150, 264-272.

Oghazi, P., & Mostaghel, R. (2018). Circular Business Model Challenges and Lessons Learned—An Industrial Perspective. Sustainability, 10(739), 1-19.

Ritzén, S., & Sandström, G. Ö. (2017). Barriers to the Circular Economy – integration of perspectives and domains. Procedia CIRP, 64, 7-12.

Sillanpaa, M., & Necibi, C. (2019). The Circular Economy: Case Studies about the Transition from the Linear Economy. Elsevier.

Stanislaus, M. (2018). Barriers to a Circular Economy: 5 Reasons the World Wastes So Much Stuff (and Why It's Not Just the Consumer's Fault). Retrieved October 24, 2019, from www.wri.org: https://www.wri.org/blog/2018/05/barriers-circular-economy-5-reasons-world-wastes-so-much-stuff-and-why-its-not-just

Wautelet, T. (2018). The Concept of Circular Economy: its Origins and its Evolution. Science Direct, 1-22.

Wrap.org.uk. (2019). WRAP and the circular economy. Retrieved October 24, 2019, from www.wrap.org.uk: http://www.wrap.org.uk/about-us/about/wrap-and-circular-economy