Inserting logistics into recycling and the disposal of waste materials of all kinds, including
toxic and hazardous goods, has become a major new market. There are several variants. An
important segment is customer-driven, where domestic waste is set aside by home-dwellers
for recycling. This has achieved wide popularity in many communities, notably because the
public became involved in the process. A second type is where non-recyclable waste,
including hazardous materials, is transported for disposal to designated sites. As land fills
close to urban areas become scarce, waste has to be transported greater distances to disposal
centres. A different approach is where reverse distribution is a continuous embedded process
in which the organisation (manufacturer or distributor) takes responsibility for the delivery
of new products as well as their take-back. This would mean environmental considerations
through the whole life-cycle of a product (production, distribution, consumption and
disposal). For example, BMW is designing a vehicle whose parts will be entirely recyclable
(Giuntini and Andel 1995).
How the logistics industry has responded to the environmental imperatives is not
unexpected, given its commercial and economic imperatives, but by virtually overlooking
significant issues, such as pollution, congestion, resource depletion, means that the logistics
industry is still not very ‘green’. This conclusion is borne out by published surveys. Murphy
et al (1994) asked members of the Council for Logistics Management what were the most
important environmental issues relating to logistics operations. The two leading issues
selected were hazardous waste disposal and solid waste disposal. Two thirds of respondents
identified these as being of ‘great’ or ‘maximum’ importance. The least important issues
identified were congestion and land use, two elements usually considered of central
importance by environmentalists. When asked to identify the future impact of environmental