Co-Creative Processes for the Circular Management of Solid Waste Through Digital Twins: A Framework for Progreso, Hidalgo, Mexico

Digital twins offer significant potential for operationalizing a circular economy at the municipal level. This study aims to propose a business model framework that optimizes the circular management of municipal solid waste (MSW) by leveraging the concept of "Co-creative Digital Process Twins." The methodology was structured around two primary axes: first, a critical literature review conducted via the PRISMA-ScR protocol to identify process architectures and existing research gaps in digital process twin development; and second, a theoretical-practical integration using the Business Model Canvas tool, grounded in the paradigms of the circular economy and participatory design, applied to a case study in the municipality of Progreso, Hidalgo, Mexico. Our findings reveal a significant bias in the current state of the art: existing digital twin applications are predominantly industrial and notably lack social inclusion mechanisms. In response, this paper presents a multidimensional business model that integrates key social actors into the digital ecosystem, establishing an architecture explicitly designed to maximize material recovery rates. Conclusively, the adoption of co-creative digital process twins provides a robust socio-technical infrastructure that not only simulates and optimizes the waste value chain but also fosters social inclusion, thereby catalyzing the transition toward a genuinely circular municipal economy.