Circular economy strategies for waste management: The mediating role of green tourism supply chain management in environmental management and energy sustainability within the Zimbabwean tourism sector

Zimbabwe’s rapidly expanding tourism sector faces urgent sustainability challenges related to waste management, environmental protection, and reliable energy access that require innovative solutions. This research delves into the complex interplay among independent variables: food waste recycling, animal waste recycling, wood waste recycling, crop residue recycling, sewage sludge recycling, mediator: green tourism supply chain management and dependent variable environmental management and energy sustainability within the context of Zimbabwean tourism. A quantitative approach was employed, collecting data from 853 Zimbabwean tourism supply chain representatives using simple random sampling and the Krejcie and Morgan table, a method of determining the sample size. Questionnaires were distributed via Google Forms, and structural equation modeling was utilized for data analysis. The results reveal notable and positive relationships for both direct and indirect hypotheses, with each demonstrating T-statistics surpassing the 1.96 threshold, ranging from 2.204 as the minimum value to 7.802 as the maximum value. The quantitative results clearly demonstrate the environmental and economic benefits possible from sustainable waste, energy, and environmental management practices in Zimbabwe’s tourism industry. The projected reductions in emissions, waste, fuel usage, and costs provide tourism supply chain stakeholders with robust evidence to justify greater investments in green infrastructure and systems. By elucidating the sustainability improvements feasible, the findings equip policymakers with actionable data to shape policies, incentives, and public-private partnerships that accelerate the transition toward a more circular tourism economy.