A Review of Reverse Logistics: An Upstream Construction Supply Chain Perspective

Pushpamali Nnc, Duzgun Agdas and Timothy M. Rose
Additional contact information
Pushpamali Nnc: Science and Engineering Faculty, School of Civil Engineering and Built Environment, Queensland University of Technology (QUT), 2-George Street, Brisbane, QLD 4000, Australia
Duzgun Agdas: Science and Engineering Faculty, School of Civil Engineering and Built Environment, Queensland University of Technology (QUT), 2-George Street, Brisbane, QLD 4000, Australia
Timothy M. Rose: Science and Engineering Faculty, School of Civil Engineering and Built Environment, Queensland University of Technology (QUT), 2-George Street, Brisbane, QLD 4000, Australia

Sustainability, 2019, vol. 11, issue 15, 1-14

Abstract: Construction industry activities, from material extraction to the end of the structure life, affect the environment negatively. For a sustainable construction process, economically, environmentally, and socially friendly practices are essential, and reverse logistics is one solution that can provide such an approach. In reverse logistics, obsolete products are reused in a new production, while reducing negative effects to the environment. In this study, we assess the current state of research on reverse logistics practices in the construction industry. The study presents a comparative data mining analysis, followed by a content analysis. The results show that the construction industry literature ignores the impact of reverse logistics practices on upstream construction activities. We argue that industry practitioners must take reverse logistics decisions in the early phases of the construction process by considering both upstream and end-of-life construction activities, and we recommend a reverse logistics decision framework for successful reverse logistics implementation. The findings of this research are significant for decision-makers in the industry. We urge that sustainable practices be employed in the industry. Furthermore, a quantitative analysis is suggested to strengthen the arguments made in this article.

Keywords: upstream construction supply chain; reverse logistics; waste management (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 (3)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/11/15/4143/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/11/15/4143/ (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:15:p:4143-:d:253617

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 ().