Reverse logistics management and its environmental impact: the return transportation in Sweden

Sammanfattning: With product returns, reverse logistics management is causing a big environmental impact, especially product returns from online shopping provided by the third-party logistics (3PL) companies. There is a need for understanding in what ways 3PL companies could reduce the environmental impact and at the same time stay competitive. This thesis qualitative method is based on semi-structured interviews with the objective to highlight the management of return transportation. Specifically, the challenges for third-party logistics (3PL) companies to reduce their environmental impact by managing the transportation of product returns and keeping their economic performances. Supporting the study, 3PL companies and end-customers, in Sweden, proposed long-term organized advice (as additional service) to the 3PLs customers for helping them reducing cost and their impact on the environment. The study suggested that 3PL companies are required to emphasize the management of transportation agreements, not only to include adequate economic clauses but also the terms for achieving environmental performances. In the long-term, these agreements will allow 3PL companies to achievetheir environmental performances and remaining competitive. The study recognized that implication for managers might be, for them to keep updated on environmental changes applying that customer’s new demands could require a different way (than today) for managing their logistics organizations. For example, these changes could have great implications for early and consistent managerial actions, impacting the reverse logistics processes, like the transportation of the returned products.