Environmental Impacts of Reusable Transport Items: A Case Study of Pallet Pooling in a Retailer Supply Chain

Riccardo Accorsi, Giulia Baruffaldi, Riccardo Manzini and Chiara Pini
Additional contact information
Riccardo Accorsi: Department of Industrial Engineering, Alma Mater Studiorum–University of Bologna, 40136 Bologna, Italy
Giulia Baruffaldi: Department of Industrial Engineering, Alma Mater Studiorum–University of Bologna, 40136 Bologna, Italy
Riccardo Manzini: Department of Industrial Engineering, Alma Mater Studiorum–University of Bologna, 40136 Bologna, Italy
Chiara Pini: Department of Industrial Engineering, Alma Mater Studiorum–University of Bologna, 40136 Bologna, Italy

Sustainability, 2019, vol. 11, issue 11, 1-13

Abstract: Manufacturing, storage, and transportation processes are typically facilitated by pallets, containers, and other reusable transport items (RTIs) designed to guarantee many cycles along a lifespan of several years. As a consequence, both supply and reverse transportation of RTIs need to be managed to avoid stockout along the supply chain and the unsustainable production of new tools from virgin materials. This paper focuses on the business of pallet management by analyzing the transport operations of a pallet pooling network serving a large-scale nationwide retailer. The pooler is responsible for supplying, collecting, and refurbishing pallets. The combination of the pooler’s management strategies with different retailer network configurations results in different pooling scenarios, which are assessed and compared in this paper through a what-if analysis. The logistical and environmental impacts generated by the pallet distribution activities are quantified per each scenario through a tailored software incorporating Geographic Information System (GIS) and routing functionalities. Findings from this analysis suggest how to reduce vehicle distance traveled (vehicles-km) by 65% and pollutant emissions by 60% by combining network infrastructures and pooling management strategies—identifying an empirical best practice for managers of pallet businesses.

Keywords: pallet management strategy; reusable handling system; closed-loop network; what-if analysis; environmental impact (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (9)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/11/11/3147/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/11/11/3147/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:11:y:2019:i:11:p:3147-:d:237087

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

More articles in Sustainability from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().