How to Reduce Information Silos While Blockchain-ifying Recycling Focused Supply Chain Solutions?

Abstract

Blockchain has already found applications in the supply chain domain to ensure transparency. Recently, blockchain has further been extended to support the circular economy. Existing literature can broadly be divided into product tracing (or track-n-trace) and anti-counterfeiting. Unfortunately, the information generated in existing supply chain applications has stayed in silos. The existence of information silos reduces the value of “blockchain-ifying” the supply chain. Proper data curation via blockchain secures the information and eases the information flow in the supply chain ecosystem, which can accelerate the implementation of the circular economy. In this paper, a blockchain-IoT-based supply chain management framework has been proposed that offers two primary features. They are i) reducing data sitting in silos while opening doors to circular economy-focused services (particularly recycling), ii) documenting suppliers’ performances while delivering quality products focusing on sustainability. Thanks to such unification, relevant supply chain stakeholders will also have access to important events (ranging from the initial stage to the end of the product’s life cycle).