Purpose – Given the lacuna in sustainability studies which investigate collaborative supply chain relationships in the context of the circular economy (CE), the purpose of this paper is to explore how farmers manage stakeholder relationship in the supply chain to reduce food waste within the CE framework. Design/methodology/approach – A qualitative approach using semi-structured interviews is used to collect primary data for this research. Interviews are conducted with farmers across different farming types in the UK. A thematic analysis is used to discuss the most prominent themes. Findings – The findings extend previous research investigating collaboration in sustainability settings. Farmers adopt collaborative relationships to manage exchanges of food waste and to share knowledge of waste management practices. However, contrary to extant literature, the study finds that geographic proximity is still relevant in the CE framework, although its importance is determined by the type of exchange: i.e. physical or non-physical. Practical implications – Based on the study’s findings, recommendations for further research are proposed. The study also advises on practical considerations for supply chain managers wishing to adopt collaborative relationships to support circular models of supply chains. Originality/value – The study contributes to the sustainability literature by adding new knowledge to the relatively new theory of the CE. It demonstrates that factors of collaboration identified in previous sustainability research are still relevant in the CE framework, and thus require further investigation into the significance of collaboration. The study is also of relevance to supply chain managers wishing to adopt the CE framework in the transition to more sustainable supply chains.

中文翻译：

---

循环经济中的合作

目的–鉴于在循环经济（CE）的背景下可持续性研究中研究协作供应链关系的空白，本文的目的是探讨农民如何在CE框架内管理供应链中的利益相关者关系以减少食物浪费。设计/方法/方法–使用半结构化访谈的定性方法收集本研究的主要数据。采访对象是英国不同农业类型的农民。主题分析用于讨论最突出的主题。研究结果–研究结果扩展了先前的研究，以研究可持续发展环境中的合作。农民通过合作关系来管理食物垃圾的交换并分享垃圾管理实践的知识。然而，与现有文献相反，该研究发现地理邻近度在CE框架中仍具有相关性，尽管其重要性取决于交换的类型：物理或非物理。实际意义–根据研究结果，提出进一步研究的建议。该研究还为希望采用协作关系来支持供应链循环模型的供应链经理提供了一些实际考虑的建议。原创性/价值–通过向相对较新的CE理论增加新知识，该研究为可持续发展文献做出了贡献。它表明，在先前的可持续性研究中确定的协作因素在CE框架中仍然相关，因此需要进一步研究协作的重要性。