Advancing sustainability in e-commerce packaging: A simulation-based study for managing returnable transport items

Lucas Clement and Stefan Spinler

Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, 2025, vol. 193, issue C

Abstract: As e-commerce grows, tackling its environmental impacts, including those of packaging, becomes increasingly challenging. This study explores the benefits of reusable industrial packaging systems in the e-commerce industry, addressing ecological and financial perspectives. We contribute by formulating a generalized balancing problem for returnable transport items (RTIs) and developing a discrete-event simulation model and a heuristic to solve the problem. One methodological novelty is our modeling of network nodes that are simultaneously senders and recipients of RTIs. By applying the methodology to a case study of a large European e-commerce retailer, we address the need for industry-specific empirical studies comparing single-use and reusable packaging and RTI management in e-commerce.

Keywords: Sustainable packaging; Discrete-event simulation; e-commerce; Industrial packaging (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
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DOI: 10.1016/j.tre.2024.103868

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