The role of Industry 4.0 enabling technologies in circular economy practices: towards the triple bottom line of sustainability

Sustainability and Circular Economy (CE) concepts have acquired a crucial role in the global economy. In addition, climate change has become one of the dominant issues today, and companies are under pressure to comply with national governments regulations. Studies, that examine the role of digital technologies that supports companies in the transition from a linear economy to the CE are therefore, highly needed. However, while contributions in both fields have increased, there is a scarcity of research that systematizes the literature and clarifies the relationship between the Industry 4.0/Industry 5.0 technologies and CE. To achieve this aim, we perform a systematic literature review of a sample of 98 articles and define a categorization of technologies supporting CE and taxonomy of barriers to the adoption of technologies in circular models.