Chapter 4:

Reverse Logistics and the Environment

Ph.D Nguyen Duc Duy
Green Logistics and Reverse Logistics
▪ Reverse logistics: refers to all efforts to move goods from their typical place of
disposal in order to recapture value.
▪ Green logistics:understanding and minimizing the ecological impact of logistics.
▪ Some green logistics activities can be classified as reverse logistics
▪ For example:
• Using reusable totes and remanufacturing are both reverse and green logistics
issues. However, there are many green logistics activities that are not reverse
logistics related.
• Reducing energy consumption, or designing a disposable package to require less
packaging are not reverse logistics activities. Designing a product to use less
plastic would not be a reverse logistics activity, but designing a product to make use
of reusable packaging would involve reverse logistics.

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4.1 Landfill Costs and Availability
▪ Landfill Technology
• How can handle waste?
▪ Landfill Availability
• Shortage of landfill space
▪ Cost of Landfill Usage
• Perception of rapidly rising prices for landfill usage
• The fluctuating cost of landfilling has also caused plans for huge new household
waste dumps to be dropped after tipping fees failed to stay above the projects'
breakeven points.
▪ Garbage Generation

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4.1 Landfill Costs and Availability
▪ Extending Landfill Capacity
• increasing regulations on the location, construction, and operation of landfills,
opening a new landfill has become difficult.
• => reducing the volume of material that goes into landfill: recycling,
composting and incineration.
▪ Landfill Restrictions
• Restrictions on what can be placed in a landfill
• Cathode ray tubes (CRTs), are banned because placing them in a landfill will
present a long-term health risk.
• Others are banned because they take up too much space and can be better dealt
with using other methods.
▪ Disposal Bans and Reverse Logistics:
• The definition of a hazardous material is being expanded.

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Waste sorting in Finland

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Waste sorting in Finland

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Waste sorting in Finland

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4.2 Transport Packaging
Reusable Transport Packaging

▪ Usage and impact of transportation packaging, pallets, drums, gaylords,

boxes, etc., is a significant portion of the total packaging.
▪ Rising cost of purchasing and disposing of transport materials is leading
many companies to consider reusable transport packaging.
▪ Reusable containers are generally much more expensive than singleuse
packaging.
▪ If a reusable container is reused a number of times, the per-trip cost of the
reusable container quickly becomes less expensive than the disposable
packaging

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 4.2 Transport Packaging
Reusable Container Types

▪ Reusable shipping containers are available in

many shapes and sizes; many different materials.
▪ Corrugated boxes have set the standard for all
other packaging. Corrugated is lightweight, strong,
easy to handle, and inexpensive.

Corrugated cartons are made up of a few layers of material rather than just
a single sheet like cardboard. The three layers of corrugated include an
inside liner, an outside liner, and a medium that goes between the two, which is
fluted.

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4.2 Transport Packaging
Plastic

▪ Plastic is the lightest and cheapest option. Plastic reusable containers generally
come in two styles:
• Rigid (nhựa cứng)
➢ with integral lids (integral: contained within something; not separate)
➢ without integral lids.
• Collapsible.

Rigid Totes with Integral Lids

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4.2 Transport Packaging
Plastic

▪ Collapsible plastic containers:

• Available in a wide variety of sizes, but the
most commonly used is the size of a pallet.
• When standing, these containers are the size
of a typical gaylord.
• The four sides fold down flat, which leaves
the container the size of a very thick pallet.

multi-trip packaging

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4.2 Transport Packaging
Wood

▪ Wooden containers are most commonly found in

palletsized gaylords.
• Wooden containers are very durable and strong,
and are suitable for heavy loads and rough
handling.
• Sturdiness comes at the price of being heavy,
which adds to transportation costs and can make
them more difficult to maneuver.

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4.2 Transport Packaging
Metal
▪ Metal is often used for constructing wheeled cages that are used to carry boxes
or totes for delivery.
▪ Primarily used for local deliveries, not long-distance transportation.
▪ Cannot be collapsed, and given their size and weight, they generally cannot be
nested.
▪ bins are strong, durable, and heavy
▪ Used for storing heavy, loose parts.

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 4.2 Transport Packaging
Container Pools
▪ High initial investment.
▪ Get the containers back is critical.
▪ Reusable container program is designed
to operate only within the area near a
facility, getting the containers back is not
difficult.
▪ Partners are far-flung, the reverse
transportation costs may be prohibitively
high, and render the program
uneconomical.
▪ Difficult to make such a system work on a
national or international level

far-flung: Xa xôi
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4.2 Transport Packaging
Dunnage

▪ Dunnage is the material used inside the container to prevent damage during
shipment.

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4.2 Transport Packaging
Polystyrene

▪ Many products (especially electronics) are packaged

in polystyrene foam (styrofoam) to prevent in-
transit damage.
▪ Inorganic nature => polystyrene has long been a
target of environmentalists.
▪ Polystyrene “peanuts” consume less energy to
manufacture, produce less air and water emissions,
and produce less solid waste than other packaging
alternatives, including paper.

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4.3 Returnable Packaging Considerations
Benefits of Reusables

▪ Saving on the purchase and disposal costs of disposable packaging.

▪ Lower per-trip cost.
▪ Reusables can often be reconfigured by modifying the dunnage, which is
much cheaper than buying new containers.
▪ Containers are often made of recyclable materials, they are recycled when
they have reached the end of their useful lives.
▪ Enter into a program of using reusable packaging.

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4.3 Returnable Packaging Considerations
Transportation Costs of Reusables

▪ Transportation materials costs are by no means the only consideration in a

decision about reusable containers.
▪ Company's costs related to handling, transporting, and tracking shipments
and materials will be heavily affected by a change to reusable containers.
• Transportation costs are a major stumbling block to reusable containers.
• “Cube” utilization may not be as good with reusables.
▪ Major transportation cost of reusables is getting the containers back to the
company

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4.3 Returnable Packaging Considerations
Transportation Costs of Reusables

▪ Reusables reduce transportation costs.

• One major manufacturer switched to returnable containers for appliances, the
containers were strong enough to be double-stacked (xếp chồng lên nhau).

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4.3 Returnable Packaging Considerations
Ergonomics

▪ Ergonomics must play a role in container selection.

• Some materials are much heavier than others.
• The contents of some larger sizes cannot comfortably be reached without
repositioning the container.
• Reusable containers often offer an ergonomic advantage over disposable
containers.

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4.3 Returnable Packaging Considerations
Other Costs of Utilizing Reusables

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4.3 Returnable Packaging Considerations
Managing Containers
▪ One unpredictable cost is tracking the containers.
▪ Many companies use bar coding/RFID/ blockchain to track individual
containers.

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4.3 Returnable Packaging Considerations
Success Factors

There are a number of factors that have a significant impact on the likelihood of
success of a given program.
1. Transportation Distances.
2. Frequent Deliveries.
3. Number of Parties Involved.
4. Number of Sizes Needed.
5. Partner Buy-In.

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Case study in Vietnam

25
Examples- Packaging returns in Vietnam
Return beer cans

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Examples- Packaging returns in Vietnam

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End of chapter 4
▪ Read Chapter 4: Reverse Logistics and the Environment
▪ Book: Going Backwards: Reverse Logistics Trends and Practices

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