Ecological Motivation and Sustainability for Reverse Logistics: A System Dynamics Modeling Approach

Sustainable development, along with technological and economical trends have led to the development of efficient "closed-loop supply chains". In this context, "ecological motivation" is a strategic issue of increased importance for the profitability of reverse supply chains due to companies' concerns about their "green image" and environmental legislation. In this paper we examine the impact of the ecological motivation on the long term behavior of a simple system that can be encountered on a variety of real-world cases, namely that of a single producer and a single product chain with recycling activities. Ecological motivation manifests through a variety of issues that are investigated, including the take-back obligations, lower limits of recycling imposed by legislation, green consumerism and design for environment (DfE). We develop a novel modeling approach that captures these issues comprehensively by exploiting the principles of the system dynamics (SD) theory. The dynamic model provides a simulation tool, which can be used for the conduct of various "what-if" analyses, by evaluating the impact of various regulatory measures and green consumerism on system performance. Finally, we discuss the potential value of the proposed modeling procedure in managing real world cases.