SOCIAL REVOLUTIONS, THEIR TRIGGERS FACTORS AND CURRENT BRAZIL
A reverse logistics and preservation of the environment
1. A REVERSE LOGISTICS AND PRESERVATION OF THE ENVIRONMENT
Fernando Alcoforado
Abstract: This article aims to show the basics of reverse logistics and its enormous
importance in preserving the environment.
Keywords: Logistics concept. The concept of reverse logistics. Reverse logistics
applications. Benefits of reverse logistics.
1. Introduction
Every human enterprise generates environmental impact to a greater or lesser extent in
its implementation and in its operation. Among the environmental impacts, stand out for
waste disposal during deployment and of product and residues during the operation of
the projects described below:
• Roads, railways, ports, airports, pipelines, ducts ores, trunks collectors and outfalls
of sewage
• Plants generating electricity, whatever the primary energy source, including the
installation of wind farms
• Transmission lines for electricity
• Hydraulic works for sanitation, drainage, irrigation, grinding stream, transpose
basins, navigation channels, hydroelectric, dikes
• Extraction of fossil fuel (oil, shale, coal, natural gas) and mining on land and at sea
• Air, sea, road, rail, waterway and pipeline transport
• Landfills, processing and disposal of toxic or hazardous residues
• Complex and plants (petrochemical, steel, chlorine chemical) and agribusiness
(alcohol distilleries, coal, extraction and cultivation of water resources)
• Industrial districts and zones strictly industrial
• Agro industrial production
• Economic exploitation of timber or firewood
• Urbanistic projects
The waste products and residues from these projects can be solid, liquid and gaseous.
To combat pollution of land, air and water in the city and in the countryside, it´s
necessary to make the recycling of products currently used and discarded and residues.
In this perspective, the products currently used and discarded and waste when used in
various applications, should firstly be recycled to form a new product using the reverse
logistics, secondly, being burnt in order to extract all the energy they contain, especially
in the case of gaseous waste, and only ultimately must be removed to a landfill where
solid waste and thrown in lakes, rivers and ocean after proper treatment in case of liquid
waste.
2. The concept of logistics
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2. Logistics is a branch of Administration whose activities are focused on planning the
storage, movement (land, air and sea) and product distribution. One of the most
important goals of logistics is to create mechanisms to deliver the products to the final
destination in the shortest possible time, helping to reduce costs. It´s important to study
the circulation routes, means of transport, storage sites (deposits) and other factors that
influence the logistics.
With the globalization of capital, especially since the Industrial Revolution, logistics has
become increasingly important for businesses in a competitive market. This occurred
because the amount of goods produced and consumed and global trade greatly
increased. Today, with the globalization of economy, the logistics expertises are
essential for businesses. In recent years, the Business Logistics has been undergoing
constant evolution and is considered one of the key elements used in strategic planning,
and is often responsible for generating huge competitive advantage of companies.
3. The concept of reverse logistics
From the 1990s, with the constant concern about the use of natural resources, as well as
the accumulation of industrial wastes in large cities, large companies have been blamed
by society for this problem. Large organizations now have a new concern: how would it
be possible to find a solution to this problem without generating increased costs and
expenses? With the advent of this scenario arose the concept of Reverse Logistics.
It is defined as reverse logistics the activity that plans, operates and controls the flow
and logistics information corresponding to the return of goods after-sales and post-
consumer to business-cycle or to productive cycle, through the Reverse Distribution
Channels, adding value to them of various kinds: economic, ecological, legal,
competitive, corporate image, among others.
While Traditional Logistics is the flow of products from factory to client, Reverse
Logistics deals with the return of products, parts and materials of the final consumer to
the production process of the company. Due to severe existing environmental legislation
and also the great influence of society and non-governmental organizations, companies
are adopting the use of a higher percentage of recycled material in its production
process, and have also adopted procedures for the proper disposal of products which
cannot be reused or recycled.
The reverse logistics is, therefore, the activity of the logistic that treat with the return of
products or packaging materials to their production center, as is shown in Figure 1
below. The reverse logistics in the recycling process causes the material to return to
different production centers shaped raw material. Activities of management of reverse
logistics predict the reuse and waste removal and management of returns.
In many companies, it was shown that a small investment in Reverse Logistics
management results in substantial savings. The Reverse Logistics is the last frontier for
cost reduction. The logistics reverse applies to all physical flows backward, i.e., from
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3. the consumption point to the origin or deposition of packaging products in a safe place
at the end of life, returns, etc. having the most varied areas of application.
The physical reverse flows are linked to new industries reuse of products or materials at
the end of life cycle, such as waste and debris, transformation of certain types of waste,
products damaged or object of complaint and consequent return, return and recycling
used packaging, vehicles and other equipment at end of life.
Figure 1 - Reverse Logistics
Companies encouraged by ISO 14000 and concerned with environmental management,
also known as "green logistics", began to recycle materials and disposable packaging
such as aluminum cans, plastic bottles and cardboard boxes, among others, who have to
stand out as raw material and no longer treated like garbage.
4. Applications of reverse logistics
The main issue of the Reverse Logistics is the viability of the return of goods through
their reintegration into the manufacturing cycle or business and for this to occur, it is
necessary to develop a first step to analyze these goods and after-sales post-
consumption in order to define the status of these goods in the process and determine
which should be submitted. The materials can be returned to the supplier or may be
resold if they are still under suitable marketing. Furthermore, the goods may be
reconditioned or recycled, so only the product is discarded in the latter case.
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4. The Reverse Logistics Post-sale is a field of Reverse Logistics which handles the
addressing and operation of the physical flow of logistics information and
corresponding goods after sale, unused or little used, which for different reasons to
return different links in the chain of direct distribution, which constitute a part of
Reverse Channels through which flow these products. Its strategic goal is to add value
to a product that is returned logistics for commercial reasons, errors in processing
orders, warranty given by the manufacturer, defects or malfunctions in product damage
during transport, among other reasons.
In turn, the Reverse Logistics Post-consumer is a field of Reverse Logistics and
operationalizes that equates physical flow and information related to post-consumer
goods discarded by society in general returning to the business cycle or the cycle
production through distribution channels specific reverse. They consist of post-
consumer goods products at end of life or used with possibility of utilization and
industrial waste in general. Its strategic goal is to add value to a product consisting of
logistical unserviceable assets to the original owner, or who still have conditions of use
for discarded products because they have reached the end of life and industrial waste.
These post-consumer products may originate from durable or disposable flow and
reverse channels for Reuse, Dismantle, and Recycling until the final destination.
5. Benefits of Reverse Logistics
Financial and logistical gains are just some of the benefits that reverse logistics is able
to provide. There are also gains to the corporate image of the organization to adopt an
environmentally friendly, attracting attention and preference not only for customers but
also for consumers. Initiatives related to reverse logistics have brought considerable
returns for companies. Economies with the use of returnable packaging or recycling of
materials for production have brought increasingly gains that stimulate new initiatives.
The reuse of materials is one of the processes that are part of the dynamics of reverse
logistics, and is one of the aspects that have potential to add value to materials in
returnable reverse process. The use of reverse logistics as a means of competitive
differentiation is very important to the company. Achieving competitive advantage is
one of the main factors leading organizations to implement the reverse process of
distribution.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
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NOGUEIRA, Amarildo de Souza. Logística Empresarial (Business Logistics). São
Paulo: Atlas, 2012.
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5. RAZZOLINI FILHO, Edelvino, BERTÉ, Rodrigo. O reverso da logística e as
questões ambientais no Brasil (The reverse logistics and environmental issues in
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VEIGA, José Eli da. Economia socioambiental (Environmental economics). São
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