Circular Resilience Enablers in Informal-Dominated Urban Mining E-Waste Supply Chains in Emerging Economies

The global proliferation of e-waste creates both environmental hazards and material recovery opportunities through urban mining, yet in emerging economies, circular economy transitions are constrained by informal-sector dominance, fragmented governance, and limited recycling infrastructure. This study identifies, structures, and analyzes the key enablers of circular resilience in informal-dominated urban mining e-waste supply chains across emerging economies using an integrated Fuzzy RAFSI (Ranking of Alternatives through Functional mapping of criterion sub-intervals into a Single Interval)–ISM–MICMAC approach. Expert panel inputs from Indonesian expert panel representing academia, government, industry, and informal sectors, encompassing academia, government, industry, and informal-sector representatives, provided the empirical foundation. Four key findings emerge: First, circular resilience is governance-driven rather than technology-driven, with regulatory clarity, policy incentives, and adaptive governance mechanisms forming the foundational layer of the ISM hierarchy. Second, informal-sector integration functions as a critical structural linkage enabler mediating between institutional drivers and operational outcomes in the Indonesian context, with implications for emerging economies. Third, technological enablers such as recycling infrastructure and downstream processing capacity are dependent outcomes conditional upon prior institutional reform. Fourth, enablers cluster into distinct systemic roles: institutional factors as independent drivers, coordination mechanisms as linkage variables, and operational capabilities as dependent outcomes. This study introduces governance-driven circular resilience, showing that in informal-dominated systems in Indonesia, with relevance to similar emerging economy contexts, resilience stems from institutional coherence and adaptive governance rather than firm-level strategies, with key implications for circular economy policy in developing regions.