The concept of things being circular has found its way into supply chains because of its numerous benefits.

As International Container Terminal Services South Africa and Hutchison Port Holdings Trust China will know, revenue is the primary motivation for companies to partake in virtually any task. But, there are numerous ways for businesses to earn a profit and these don't have to come at the expense of other values. Many businesses are thinking about the circular economy for this very reason, with the supply chain at the heart of it. This strategy maximises manufacturing investment and causes lower production costs due to the emphasis on reusing materials. Businesses also become less reliant upon the more volatile raw commodities markets as a result of them reusing current materials. In addition to there being cost benefits there's also a opportunity for earning revenue because of circular business practices appealing to environmentally conscious customers.

There are numerous distinct yet interconnected trends within contemporary supply chains. As an example, green supply chains and sustainable supply chains may share lots of the same methods, such as utilising renewable energies, but remain distinct such as how sustainable supply chains are a wider concept that also have a focus on governance and social issues. These two supply chain trends may utilise another modern concept, that is the circular supply chain. This is when products or their components are returned or prepared for repair, refurbishment, recycling, or reselling. Factoring this into a supply chain decreases the necessity for new materials, which makes it more sustainable. Additionally, this produces less pollution through the removal and manufacturing process, helping to make the supply chain greener. One other name for this is a closed loop supply chain, due to the reduction of new inputs. This contrasts it to a linear supply chain, which creates value from cheap mass production but produces more waste as a side effect.

There are numerous methods for circular supply chain methods to become factored into the company methods of a business and no business has to implement them. Some of those techniques may occur during the shipping phase, as DP World Russia will be well aware, through developing new delivery paths that factor in the stages that close the circle by bringing previously used materials back to the beginning. The transportation of these materials may be made simpler by encouraging customer returns, such as by establishing drop-off points and by including packaging with serial codes to cover the expense of returns. The packaging itself can also be redesigned to make sure that it isn't unnecessarily big and that it is created from recyclable materials. Exactly the same strategy can be used whenever sourcing all materials, so that the ability to be reused is a high priority whenever choosing suppliers.