The concept of circular economy (CE), a recent popular global business trend, considerably minimizes waste and environmental pollution. However, studies exploring CE practices in the context of leather industry have been scant. To deal with this issue, this paper proposes a decision support framework for evaluating the challenges to CE practices in the context of leather industry. Best worst method, a generic decision support tool, is employed in the assessment process. The study findings reveal that “lack of financial support from authorities” is assigned the highest weight in the final ranking results. This indicates that the lack of financial facility poses a major challenge to the successful implementation of CE practices. The findings can assist industrial managers and authorities in taking the required actions to implement CE practices in the leather industry for the sustainable development of the leather sector.

Eco-efficiency and resource optimization for business strategy and the environment can be achieved by the circular economy (CE) practices in supply chains (SCs). The leather industry is a significant industrial contributor to the economic growth of some countries, but at the same time, it leads to tremendous environmental pollution. This research focuses on the identification and evaluation of critical success factors (CSFs) needed in the business strategy development of CE practices as well as to minimize environmental pollution in leather industry SCs. The CSFs are identified via a comprehensive literature review and are validated by experts' opinions. The validated CSFs are further analyzed using the best–worst method (BWM) and the decision-making trial and evaluation laboratory (DEMATEL). The BWM is used to identify the weights of the CSFs, and DEMATEL is used to determine the cause–effect relationship between the CSFs. The findings show that “leadership and top management commitment” is the most important CSF. Six CSFs are classified as causal towards CE practices: “leadership and top management commitment,” “strong legislation towards CE practices,” “ecological scarcity of resources,” “knowledge of CE practices,” “funding support for R&D from the government,” and “competitor pressure on CE practices.” The findings of this study can help managers in the leather industry implement CE practices in their existing SCs to minimize waste.