Abstract
This work is aimed at analyzing potential links between reverse logistics and urban logistics and describing opportunities for collaboration between both areas of research. A description of the current state-of-the-art is provided in order to highlight the main challenges faced by both disciplines. For example, regarding reverse logistics, new recovery options, marketing strategies for recovered products, and legislation issues on the return of products in specific contexts; in regards to urban logistics, long-term planning, stakeholders’ engagement, information management, efficiency, reliability and safety, and new business models are some of such key challenges. Despite the growing interest shown in both logistics areas and their relevance for companies and consumers, reverse logistics and urban logistics are two concepts that are still somewhat unknown and, above all, treated as being relatively separated. However, there exist some aspects where the two disciplines converge and that may represent opportunities for collaboration, for example, the proper treatment and management of urban waste, and the efficient management of commercial refunds and returns. In addition, other key issues, such as land use, city typology, infrastructures, and stakeholders’ engagement should be further analyzed in order to keep advancing in the description of links between both areas.
Highlights
IntroductionReverse logistics (RL) is focused on the recovery of products once they are no longer desired (end-of-use products; for example, computers or mobile phones) or can no longer be used (end-of-life products; i.e., tires, and packaging) in order to obtain an economic return through reuse, recycling, or remanufacturing [1]
Reverse logistics (RL) is focused on the recovery of products once they are no longer desired or can no longer be used in order to obtain an economic return through reuse, recycling, or remanufacturing [1]
RL can be considered as a relevant topic of research for academics in the field of supply chain management (SCM), and a challenging business area for companies and professionals, in such a way that SCM cannot be analyzed without considering the return flows described in the field of reverse logistics [9]
Summary
Reverse logistics (RL) is focused on the recovery of products once they are no longer desired (end-of-use products; for example, computers or mobile phones) or can no longer be used (end-of-life products; i.e., tires, and packaging) in order to obtain an economic return through reuse, recycling, or remanufacturing [1]. The growing interest in reverse logistics can be seen from the upward trend in the number of articles, monographs, and books published on this subject [4,11] In this sense, Swanson et al [12] analyzed 492 papers published in the period 1991–2015 in the field of supply chain management (SCM) to explore the evolution of this discipline by topic. By taking advantage of the knowledge previously generated in both areas, this research is aimed at identifying new challenges that can be jointly faced in the future After this introduction, a background on reverse logistics and urban logistics is provided in order to highlight the main characteristics of recent contributions on this regard. Specific city characteristics, such as the topography of the city (e.g., hilly roads) and the neighborhood accessibility are considered, the results are quite general and mainly focused on the fleet sizes and the transport routes described in the problem (design issues)
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