Abstract

Victor Squires*

The Circular Economy (CE) is rapidly being considered as a promising paradigm for transitioning agro-food systems to more sustainable consumption and production systems, enabling virtuous and regenerative biological metabolisms based on eco-efficiency and eco-effectiveness strategies. This paper aims to give a theoretical and empirical framework for implementing CE principles in the olive oil supply chain, which is critical to the Mediterranean region's agro-ecological systems. A comprehensive literature review was done in order to identify the potential pathways for redesigning the olive oil supply chain from a circular perspective that have been previously addressed by academics. The reviewed literature was organized based on the circular pathway studied and the supply chain subsystem(s) to which it referred. The fundamental concerns, the technology readiness level of the accessible pathways, the prevalent techniques, and knowledge gaps are discussed. The examined paths are visually framed within the Ellen MacArthur Foundation's CE 'butterfly' graph using a synthetic evidence map.