Drivers and barriers to a circular economy adoption: a sector perspective on rare earth magnets

The transition from the current linear to a circular economy (CE) is a great challenge, especially in industries where the theme was barely explored as the case of rare-earth magnets (REM) production. This paper aims to provide a sector perspective about drivers and barriers to the adoption of circular economy principles in the NdFeB industry in Brazil. Based on current literature and CE manuals, a set of theoretical drivers and barriers is introduced, comprising three drivers areas: regulatory, normative and cultural-cognitive, and five barriers areas: financial, market, organizational, operational, and technological and structural. The sector perspective was analyzed through a survey, in which Brazilian REM decision-makers opined on the importance of the presented theoretical drivers and barriers. An evaluation of the correlation coefficients was performed to allow the understanding on how one variable behaves in a scenario where another variable is being changed. The main findings indicate that "improvement in competitive advantage" is the most relevant driver and "long-term financial profitability" is the main barrier. Finally, the CE drivers and barriers systematization performed in this research may foster circularity practices in the REM industry and help to understand the pathways to conserve resources through CE adoption.