{"id":5648,"date":"2016-08-15T13:56:16","date_gmt":"2016-08-15T03:56:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/edgeenvironment.com\/?p=5648"},"modified":"2019-09-27T13:58:32","modified_gmt":"2019-09-27T03:58:32","slug":"reverse-logistics-circular-supply-chain","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/edgeenvironment.com\/us\/2016\/08\/15\/reverse-logistics-circular-supply-chain\/","title":{"rendered":"Reverse logistics: how to influence your supply chain and become more &#8216;circular&#8217;"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-5684 size-full\" src=\"http:\/\/edgeenvironment.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/ThinkstockPhotos-469753685-e1471237467369.jpg\" alt=\"Organising reverse logistics\" width=\"2019\" height=\"797\" srcset=\"https:\/\/edgeenvironment.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2016\/08\/ThinkstockPhotos-469753685-e1471237467369.jpg 2019w, https:\/\/edgeenvironment.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2016\/08\/ThinkstockPhotos-469753685-e1471237467369-300x118.jpg 300w, https:\/\/edgeenvironment.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2016\/08\/ThinkstockPhotos-469753685-e1471237467369-1024x404.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/edgeenvironment.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2016\/08\/ThinkstockPhotos-469753685-e1471237467369-768x303.jpg 768w, https:\/\/edgeenvironment.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2016\/08\/ThinkstockPhotos-469753685-e1471237467369-1536x606.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/edgeenvironment.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2016\/08\/ThinkstockPhotos-469753685-e1471237467369-500x197.jpg 500w, https:\/\/edgeenvironment.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2016\/08\/ThinkstockPhotos-469753685-e1471237467369-250x99.jpg 250w, https:\/\/edgeenvironment.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2016\/08\/ThinkstockPhotos-469753685-e1471237467369-400x158.jpg 400w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2019px) 100vw, 2019px\" \/><\/p>\n<p><em>Productivity goes up; cost comes down. The circular economy isn&#8217;t just a theoretical concept, it can be implemented, and is often much easier than one would think. Find out how you can use reverse logistics to influence your supply chain and\u00a0make the circular economy happen.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Logistics are critical to the success of circular economy initiatives. Projects are affected by the practicalities of moving resources from \u2018A to B\u2019, as well as the costs of implementation and operation.\u00a0Teams face new and exciting challenges, such as planning the retrieval of waste materials.<\/p>\n<p>A\u00a0fundamental driver for\u00a0adopting a circular economy business model is to improve productivity and further increase the efficiency of\u00a0logistics. One common feature of a \u2018circular\u2019 business model is the adoption of \u2018reverse logistics\u2019;\u00a0for example,\u00a0utilising the empty space of a delivery vehicle to transport\u00a0materials or products back to\u00a0a factory or site.<\/p>\n<p>In the initial stages of helping a client implement a &#8216;circular&#8217; business model, we first look to eliminate waste where it is created, then\u00a0to retrieve it as a segregated stream for local and relevant re-processing. Ideally, it would then return (in some form) to the sector it came from.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong>THE CHALLENGES<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p>The factors affecting\u00a0successful circular economy initiatives\u00a0in a supply chain (such as retrieval of waste materials) include:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><em>The handling of waste materials\u00a0on-site.<\/em>\u00a0Waste needs to be separated and stored on-site for cost-effective recycling\/recovery. However, employees need\u00a0to be educated, motivated and managed for this\u00a0process to be successful.<\/li>\n<li><em>The value of the waste stream.\u00a0<\/em>The lower the value, the harder to justify any cost of recovery.<\/li>\n<li><em>The complexity of the supply chain.<\/em>\u00a0Extended supply chains that, say, cross international borders, are more difficult to manage.<\/li>\n<li><em>Storage of materials.<\/em>\u00a0Space restrictions, frequency of collection, fire safety impacts and other regulatory issues may constrain the implementation of solutions.<\/li>\n<li><em>Dealing with third parties<\/em>. Logistics are\u00a0often\u00a0outsourced to a third party that is disconnected from direct manufacture\u00a0and focused\u00a0on the lowest cost of delivery rather than environmental performance.<\/li>\n<li><em>The size of the company<\/em>.\u00a0Larger companies will need additional management to\u00a0create a more \u2018circular\u2019 way of performing generally, or when\u00a0designing, delivering and managing a particular product from cradle-to-grave.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong>THE SOLUTIONS<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p>Very often, change in a supply chain is more easily driven by the organisation at its peak, such as the end client showing the necessary leadership to control and influence the supply chain and stakeholders, while creating a prosperous\u00a0environment of eco-innovation.\u00a0It is no co-incidence that the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ellenmacarthurfoundation.org\/\">Ellen Macarthur Foundation<\/a> has been amassing a group of 100 diverse corporates around the globe,\u00a0establishing the critical mass for disruptive change to happen.<\/p>\n<p>We\u2019ve put together some insight from our team\u2019s experiences designing, trialling and implementing closed loop projects:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Communicate with management and staff the desire for a &#8216;circular&#8217; business model.<\/li>\n<li>Create the environment for eco-innovation using commercial incentives: policy, specification setting, vendor tendering, supplier selection, management.<\/li>\n<li>Take a whole-system view of the supply chain to\u00a0reveal\u00a0the economic levers or incentives\u00a0that can\u00a0initiate change for more \u2018circularity\u2019 with each supplier:\u00a0longer contracts, faster payment terms, sole supply agreements etc.<\/li>\n<li>Communicate the life cycle cost-impacts of current ways of working to\u00a0stimulate innovation, both internally and also externally throughout other parts of the supply chain.<\/li>\n<li>Understand which stakeholders have\u00a0both the motivation and capability to improve their operations.<\/li>\n<li>Understand who\u00a0owns and operates the logistics fleets; and who manages the relevant operational personnel to sort, segregate, collect and process material waste.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong>FORD: REVERSE LOGISTICS IN PRACTICE<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p>Suppliers in the automotive industry for manufacturers such as Ford (Europe), have successfully developed this approach over the past years by designing returnable, robust, re-usable storage trays for the delivery of components, rather than create endless packaging waste.<\/p>\n<p>Once components have been delivered to site, the return journey of the delivery vehicle is filled with the packaging from a previous drop off. In a staged approach, recycling solutions may first be adopted, and with these in place, the supply chain is ready to progress to re-use options, as in the example at Ford above.<\/p>\n<p>There are many different opportunities to help sectors and companies evolve their business into a more \u2018circular\u2019 way of operating. While some industries may eventually be faced with significant disruption externally, there are also ways in which a business can evolve more gradually towards this way of operation.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Productivity goes up; cost comes down. The circular economy isn&#8217;t just a theoretical concept, it can be implemented, and is often much easier than one &hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":5684,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ub_ctt_via":""},"categories":[518,1,17,228],"tags":[],"featured_image_src":"https:\/\/edgeenvironment.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2016\/08\/ThinkstockPhotos-469753685-e1471237467369.jpg","author_info":{"display_name":"admins","author_link":"https:\/\/edgeenvironment.com\/us\/author\/admins\/"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v16.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Reverse logistics: how to make your supply chain more &#039;circular&#039;<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The circular economy isn&#039;t just a theoretical concept, it&#039;s a practice. 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