## 5 Conclusions  
In this paper, we enhanced the WEave blockchain-based traceability prototype to support circular economy processes and demonstrated its applicability beyond the apparel industry. We preserved the core capabilities of WEave in mapping complex supply chain processes and ensuring transparent, immutable record-keeping, while generalizing and expanding the framework's scope. Specifically, we introduced mechanisms for tracking product returns, recycling/refurbishment, and reuse within the blockchain ledger, thus closing the information loop from production to end-of-life. We proposed and measured new performance and traceability metrics that reflect the needs of a sustainable supply chain, such as recycled content traceability and lifecycle auditability. Our simulation results indicate that the extended framework can successfully document full product lifecycles and maintain strong performance and scalability, aligning with recent findings in the literature that blockchain can be a key enabler of supply chain sustainability and resilience. Key contributions of this new work include: (1) A novel integration of closed-loop supply chain modeling with blockchain traceability, providing a template for industries seeking to enhance transparency in recycling and reuse streams; (2) Empirical evidence (via simulation) that multi-tier, multi-cycle traceability can be achieved with manageable overhead, contributing to the scant quantitative literature on blockchain efficacy in supply chains; and (3) Practical guidance in the form of proposed architecture diagrams, smart contract functions, and metrics that practitioners and researchers can adopt to implement and evaluate similar systems. By addressing transparency not just in the forward supply chain but across the entire product lifecycle, we move closer to digital, resilient, and sustainable supply chains in which data-driven decisions can minimize environmental impact while improving accountability. The practical realization of blockchain-enabled circular supply chains also depends critically on addressing organizational readiness and human factors that simulation studies like this cannot fully capture. Successful implementation requires comprehensive change management strategies that account for varying technological capabilities across supply chain participants, cultural resistance to transparency, and the substantial training requirements necessary to ensure data quality and system integrity. Future research should prioritize pilot deployments that systematically evaluate these human and organizational dimensions alongside technical performance metrics. For researchers, recommendations for further work could explore deploying this framework in a live setting to observe real-world performance and adoption challenges. Integrating additional technologies like IoT for automated data capture or AI for anomaly detection on the blockchain data could augment its capabilities. For industry practitioners and policymakers, our work suggests that investing in traceability infrastructure yields benefits beyond compliance--it can unlock new circular business opportunities and strengthen supply chain partnerships through shared trusted information. Policymakers might also consider encouraging such digital traceability systems via incentives or standards, as they provide the transparency needed to enforce regulations (e.g., confirming recycled content mandates). Ultimately, enhancing transparency in buyer-driven commodity chains using blockchain not only supports ethical and efficient production but also creates the foundation for circular economy initiatives. WEave's evolution presented here exemplifies how marrying technology with sustainability principles can lead to supply chains that are transparent by design, sustainable by outcome, and resilient by structure. We envision that the continued development of such frameworks will play a pivotal role in the transition to more sustainable consumption and production patterns in the years to come. Conceptualization, R.T., K.B.