Unpacking the role of primary packaging material in designing green supply chains: An integrated approach

Abstract Due to the adverse impact of packaging materials on several ecosystems, the circular and sustainable approaches to manage packaging waste have been receiving increasing attention worldwide. Plastic pails are widely used primary packaging materials that are cost-effective, lightweight, yet long-lasting. In the present study, we propose a closed-loop supply chain (CLSC) network design model to jointly optimize the decisions related to the location of collection, sorting, and recycling centers, and the quantity of plastic pales to be recycled and/or freshly produced and distributed. The proposed model is augmented with an incentive mechanism to acquire used plastic pails from customers as well as a green supplier selection procedure. In addition to the traditional objective of profit maximization, the proposed model also minimizes carbon emission, maximizes the return of used plastic pails, and prioritize suppliers for the procurement of sustainable packaging raw materials. A set of non-dominated solutions to the proposed multi-objective model are obtained using the Augmented e-constraint method (AUGMECON). The results of AUGMECON are also compared with other methods such as weighted sum method and Augmented Tchebycheff method. It is oberseved that AUGMECON produces diverse set of pareto-optimal solutions for the considered problem. The applicability of the model is explained using an illustrative example of an adhesive manufacturer in India. Further, several managerial insights are drawn by carrying out sensitivity analysis through scenario building.