Evaluating the circular supply chain implementation barriers using Pythagorean fuzzy AHP-DEMATEL approach

In recent times, the notion of Circular Supply Chain (CSC) has gained considerable attention from the community of researchers, practitioners, and policymakers across the globe. It is due to the issues of enormous waste generation, deteriorating environmental conditions, and increased consumption of natural resources. Thus, the Circular Economy (CE) adoption in supply chain becomes critical. However, CSC implementation is a challenging task due to several barriers. In current literature, very few of the literature analyze the barriers to CSC adoption in emerging economies, especially in India. Therefore, to fill the literature gap, this study's purpose is to identify and analyze the inter-relationships among the CSC barriers and their impact on CSC implementation. The integrated Pythagorean fuzzy analytic hierarchy process (PF-AHP) and Pythagorean fuzzy decision making trial and evaluation laboratory (PF-DEMATEL) approaches are used to achieve the set objective of this research. PF-AHP is utilized to calculate the weights of criteria as CSC barriers. PF-DEMATEL is used to determine the causal dependency among selected CSC barriers. The results show that "Lack of top management support and commitment to adopt circular practices" is the most crucial barrier, and "Low acceptability for adopting remanufactured, recycled and refurbished products" is the least significant barrier. The findings of this research will assist the managers, practitioners, and policymakers in preparing business strategies for effective adoption of CSC management.