Sustainability and circular economy are currently some of the strongest trends in industry as well as in politics. They are seen as the best chance to tackle emissions, pollution and climate change while maintaining the prosperity of society. Product-Service System (PSS) business models are seen as an enabler of the circular economy. However, the development of such business models is a major challenge, especially for SMEs. Therefore, there is a need for support through a methodical approach in the development and decision-making. This paper combines and extends an existing approach for assessing the feasibility of PSS-driven business models and a decision-support matrix for recirculation strategies to provide support to practitioners in the early development phases of circular PSS business models. The existing approach for feasibility analysis was focused on PSS only. To include the perspective of circularity and sustainability a systematic literature review was conducted to identify necessary criteria. Combined with the decision-support matrix the improved method aims to be a lean method to support feasibility analysis and decision-making in circular PSS business model development.

The feasibility of integrating ethanol production into an existing sugar mill was analyzed by a stochastic spreadsheet model. As the price of corn continues to rise, ethanol producers will eventually need to look at other feedstock alternatives. Sugarcane has been proven to work well in the production of ethanol in Brazil. The results indicated existing U.S. sugar mills could economically switch to ethanol production. As imports into the United States threaten to undermine the U.S. sugar program, sugarcane producers have a viable alternative. At the very least, the alternative exists to diversify their income streams with ethanol production.