Systems Approach to Sustainable Resource Management: CVORR+ in UK and Indonesia Plastics Value Chains

Abstract

Plastics value chains operate as complex systems in which sustainability performance emerges from interactions among processes, structures, and values. These interactions are evident in material and monetary flows, stakeholder networks, and the underlying norms and priorities, all of which are influenced by broader enabling conditions. Consequently, reductionist or single waste management indicators often fail to capture these systemic dynamics, offering limited insights into opportunities for resource recovery improvement. To address this challenge, the Complex Value Optimisation for Resource Recovery (CVORR+) provides a systems-based framework and analytical toolkit for holistically examining resource recovery systems and identifying opportunities to enhance value creation across environmental, economic, social, and technical dimensions. This case study presents a comparative assessment of two contrasting national contexts, Indonesia and the United Kingdom (UK), in which CVORR+ is applied to analyse plastics value chains and identify systemic inefficiencies, structural barriers, and key drivers of resource recovery performance. The comparative analysis demonstrates that inefficiencies, constraints and opportunities for intervention vary significantly across governance, infrastructural and socio-economic contexts, highlighting the context-dependent nature of plastics value chains. It further shows how CVORR+ enables a comprehensive, holistic and integrated assessment by capturing system-wide interactions, identifying cause-and-effect relationships and leverage points, and supporting the development of context-specific performance metrics for monitoring sustainability outcomes.