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Recycling and recovery of materials from used products is one of the major avenues to reduce material throughput. Ideally, all materials are anticipated for being reused by the economy an infinite number of times. In reality, recovery of secondary materials may be difficult because of high costs, or because of degraded quality compared with virgin materials. The search for potential reduction of throughput in material cycles should be based on a knowledge of the limits to repeated cycles. To gain understanding of recycling limits, we developed a method to estimate the actual reduction potential for each throughput in a material's multi-cycle life. First, we investigated the material flow system of paper in Taiwan, and developed a supply chain network of paper flows. Systematic elaboration of the flows revealed where paper can be recycled and where paper can be lost. Second, we estimated the reduction potential with a material input–output Markov chain model, which maps the distribution and loss of materials on the supply chain processes. The model estimated the quantities and the life pathways of recycled materials across continuous life-cycles. An indicator was used to quantify the total performance of the material across repeated life-cycles. This method offers an opportunity to examine practices that approach the limit of reduction. This case study shows that the use and separation of paper waste after discarding may need to be reformed to extend the life-cycles of the material. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study develops a framework of internal and external factors that influence the adoption of eco-innovation. We studied 80 adoption processes in the Dutch brewing industry and the Dutch paper industry and analysed the relative importance of different factors. We find that internal factors were more important than external factors. The analysis also shows differences between the industries. The financial advantage was important for both industries, but especially for the paper industry. For the brewing industry, ethical responsibility and stakeholders played a more important role in the adoption. The analysis also revealed differences for small and large firms. Ethical responsibility and stakeholders are relatively more often mentioned by small firms, whereas clear objectives and regulations were mentioned more by large firms. Our study highlights that the adoption of eco-innovation is a complex process and the position in the supply chain as well as the size of a firm influence what is important in the adoption of eco-innovation. • Many different internal and external factors influence the adoption of eco-innovation. • Internal factors are more important than external factors. • Ethical considerations and stakeholders seem more important for smaller firms. • The position in the supply chain influences which factors are important. • Firms visible to consumers are influenced by ethical considerations and stakeholders. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sustainability measurement in economics includes assessment of environmental and economic effects in an integrated manner. In this study, system level economic data are integrated with environmental impacts determined from a life cycle assessment (LCA) of a common product. We adopt a costing methodology that captures conventional costs, but additionally incorporates externality costs to present a convenient, easily interpretable metric. Green Net Value Added (GNVA) is a type of full cost accounting that incorporates total revenue, the cost of production, depreciation, and environmental externalities. We present externality costs disaggregated by upstream sectors, full cost of production, and GNVA to evaluate the relative sustainability of Bounty ® paper towels manufactured at two production facilities. We found that the longer running, more established line had a higher GNVA. The predominant components contributing to externality costs come from the stationary sources in the supply chain: electricity generation (27–35%), refineries (20–21%), pulp and paper making (15–23%). Health-related externalities from Particulate Matter (PM2.5) and Carbon Dioxide equivalent (CO2e) emissions are to a great extent driven by electricity usage and emissions by the facilities, followed by pulp processing and transport. Supply chains for other facility purchases, product distribution, and end-of-life management contribute the least to the environmental health-related costs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Formal scavenging grants material circularity, but its potential contribution to the sustainability of a Supply Chain (SC) is far from being a trivial issue. Thus, this paper aims to understand what is the impact of formal scavenging on the sustainability of an SC and quantify it. Accordingly, a case study in an Italian Pulp and Paper circular SC was developed through the lenses of the Triple Bottom Line. This SC consists of five groups of stakeholders and a formal scavenger that collects and redistributes wastepaper. The findings show that, in a one-year time window, the formal scavenger generated an economic value of over €3 million and led to saving 718 tCO 2 e and an energy equivalent to that consumed by 1000 average Italian families every year. In addition, it created new stable jobs and directly contributed to decreasing the waste tax in the geographical area in which it operates. Furthermore, formal scavenging proved to be effective in building up SC resilience in the face of unexpected changes in the prices and volumes of wastepaper. The results contribute to framing formal scavenging as a collaboration-based solution to enable the achievement of sustainability benefits in closed-loop SCs and provide actionable suggestions for SC managers and policymakers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Under carbon cap-and-trade regulation, to control carbon emissions and improve the recycling efficiency of waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) from the traditional offline recycling channel, more enterprises attempt to simultaneously combine the online recycling platform with the digital transformation of the supply chain. Based on a closed-loop supply chain (CLSC) with dual recycling channels and considering recycling advertising invested both in offline and online recycling channels, this paper attempts to explore the optimal recycling advertising mode which can both achieve economic and environmental performance under cap-and-trade regulation. Therefore, game models including a manufacturer and above either recycler are established, which are respectively correspond to four recycling advertising modes: manufacturer cooperates with neither recycler (MO mode), manufacturer only cooperates with the offline retailer (MR mode), manufacturer only cooperates with the online recycling platform (MT mode), and manufacturer cooperates with either recycler (MRT mode). Consequently, this paper solves the optimal decisions of the tripartite and focuses on the analysis of the impact of cooperative (competitive) recycling advertising under cap-and-trade regulation. By comparing the profits and total carbon emissions of the whole CLSC under four recycling advertising modes, the results indicate that: cooperative advertising between the manufacturer and two recyclers can achieve economic and environmental performance for the whole CLSC if the free-riding phenomenon occurs in recycling advertising. Otherwise, influenced by competitive recycling advertising, the above mode turns to the suboptimal one for the profits of two recyclers and the total carbon emissions of the CLSC. Moreover, driven by economic benefits, cooperative advertising will eventually become a consensus, but the total carbon emissions may not always be the least. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Environmental crises and increasing pressure from governments are responsible for the appearance of various green approaches to be considered in supply chain management. One of these approaches is sustainable supply chains, which have been implemented in different aspects of supply chains. Most third-party logistics (3 PLs) companies now provide their services utilizing the sustainable supply chain approach. In this study, we consider a 3PL in a supply chain with two goals: decreasing carbon emission and delivery time using a game theoretic approach, which is considered for the first time. We suppose that consumers are aware about the green transportation. Also, it is assumed that two manufacturers deliver their products to the same retailer using a 3 PL. The manufacturers use the 3 PL mainly because it is a way to provide green transportation and increase customer satisfaction by ensuring that products are delivered in a timely fashion to the retailer. This paper examines product pricing, the greenness determination for the first manufacturer's product, and the variables for the 3 PL, including the amount of carbon dioxide emissions and delivery time. Three scenarios are considered in this research: a centralized game and two decentralized games. The results show that it is essential to establish competition between the supply chain members to obtain greater profitability and an acceptable level of sustainability indicators. In the decentralized Stackelberg game between the manufacturers, they earn the highest profit. In the centralized game, the product greenness is the lowest, and in the decentralized game when the 3 PL is the leader, the product greenness is the highest. • The production of one green and one non-green product by two competitor producers. • The producers send products to retailer by using a 3 PL. • Using game theory to investigate the effects of 3 PL in the sustainable SC. • Analyzing the problem with three scenarios: two decentralized and one centralized. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explains the evolving role of the local supply chain across different disruption scenarios. A systematic literature review of 91 papers from 33 journals supports definition of the local supply chain and explication of benefits before, during and after COVID-19 disruption. Resilience emerges as the prevalent benefit at each stage, but to varying scales. In the pre-COVID-19 era, where the local supply chain serves as a back-up approach to the more dominant global supply chain, localisation's capacity to absorb change promotes resilience to mitigate low-magnitude disruption. At initial outbreak of COVID-19 disruption the local supply chain was necessitated as an emergency response to the untenability of global operations, demonstrating transformational resilience to survive. As disruption continued, the local supply chain upscaled and adapted to recover. In the post-COVID-19 era, resilience is expected to remain a strategic priority, promoting continued investment in local operations to thrive with embedded resilience. As a result, the COVID-19 pandemic welcomed a point of transition for the local supply chain as capacities and benefits are revaluated and localisation recognised as critical in developing resilient supply networks for the future. This study consolidates this evolution to offer a propositional framework showcasing the local supply chain across different disruption scenarios. This offers long overdue definition and explanation of the local supply chain and its relationship with resilience, addressing an existing lack of academic attention and encouraging alignment of local-versus-global decisions with changing strategic priorities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One of the challenges for suppliers is to increase their market share due to the limited target market. In other words, in the supply chain, the demand for suppliers' products is limited. Therefore, suppliers produce a determined share of the required amount by producers. However, when it comes to the share in the amount of output among suppliers, the output of suppliers in this indicator is interdependent. In the classical data envelopment analysis (DEA) models, there are no models that assess the suppliers according to the dependence of at least one output on each other. In this paper, a model is presented that can assess sustainable suppliers in the presence of interdependent output among suppliers by using DEA models and their extension. It can also determine the total benchmarks of decision making units (DMUs) in such a way that satisfies the interdependent output constraint. In other words, benchmarks are not determined independently. Ultimately, an approach is presented to determine efficient projections for inefficient DMUs by considering the concept of interdependent output. To represent the applicability of our proposed model, a dataset for two consecutive years including 32 sustainable suppliers with consideration of interdependent output has been implemented using the model presented in this paper. The resulting sustainability has been compared with a classical model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the current global landscape, food loss and waste (FLW) persist as a significant challenge, accounting for one-third of global food production and directly impacting 700 million individuals. Beyond its social ramifications, FLW incurs substantial economic costs and raises environmental and ethical concerns. To address this issue, our paper presents a comprehensive systematic overview within operations management, offering a framework that delineates diverse supply chain types, defines FLW, examines its multifaceted impacts, and outlines reduction strategies. Emphasizing a holistic perspective, we utilize various case study approaches to shed light on the global implications of FLW, aiming to contribute to ongoing research endeavors. In exploring the depth of FLW, we build upon two foundational premises: the actions taken by rational actors towards FLW reduction hinge on the balance between benefits and costs, guiding policy formulation. Effective policies necessitate a thorough understanding of synergies, potential unintended consequences and trade-offs. The absence of comprehensive information on FLW leads to both excessive and insufficient rates of FLW. Justifying public intervention lies in its potential to enhance food security, efficiency, and environmental sustainability, albeit quantifying these effects poses challenges. Our overview paper identifies key challenges in FLW policies, encompassing measurement, quantification, interdependencies within the and trade-offs, and value chain in food policy objectives. Despite these challenges, the paper guides the enhancement of loss measurement for targeted interventions, emphasizing investments in policies that foster a conducive business environment and government-led initiatives in awareness and incentive modification. The study also sheds light on crucial gaps in knowledge, including data deficiencies and variability in estimates, calling for standardized data collection methodologies and targeted research initiatives. By addressing these gaps and emphasizing collaborative efforts, this research contributes to a nuanced understanding of FLW, advocating for improved strategies to tackle this multifaceted issue. • Comprehensive Ops Framework: Presents systematic framework for FLW reduction in supply chains. • Multifaceted FLW Impacts: Explores economic, environmental, and social impacts. • Urgent Data Gaps: Emphasizes need for current data on FLW, especially in BRICS nations. • Culture-Specific Solutions: Highlights importance of tailored innovations for waste reduction. • Climate Nexus and Renewable Energy Integration: Explores FLW, climate change, and renewable energy synergy for sustainable, low-carbon paths. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the increasing environmental awareness of citizens, sustainable fashion has become a hot topic in industry, academia, and society. The importance of product eco-design (ED) in ensuring the sustainability of organizations and supply chains cannot be overstated. This paper aims to establish an eco-design performance evaluation system and identify the most effective management mechanism. To achieve this goal, a linked two-stage network Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) model is developed. This model has a well-defined internal structure and potential causal relationships between variables; and the two stages are Internal and Supplier Management (ISM) and Openness and Collaboration (OC). We analyze stage and overall efficiencies using proactive, reactive, and simultaneous approaches. Additionally, we explore the convergence characteristics of the industry's ED efficiency from 2015 to 2018. The results show that the overall ED efficiency of fashion enterprises is significant when considering the interrelatedness of subsystems. However, there is disharmony between the two stages. As the proactive approach, ISM is the optimal strategy to maximize ED efficiency. On the other hand, OC is critical to eco-design performance. This paper contributes to the existing literature by developing an innovative DEA analytical framework for evaluating eco-design performance. It also identifies the most eco-efficient way to achieve better environmental performances, which allows decision-makers to better allocate their design efforts and improve both short- and long-term corporate sustainability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Pulp and paper manufacturing sector constitutes one of the largest industry segments in the world in terms of water and energy usage as well as of significant use and release of chemicals and combustion products. Since its chief feedstock –wood fiber– is renewable, this industry can play an important role in sustainable development, becoming an example of how a resource can be managed to provide a sustained supply to meet society's current and future needs. This calls for a thorough assessment of environmental costs and impacts associated to pulp and paper operations, including both direct and indirect inputs supporting the whole papermaking process as well as the main outputs, co-products and by-products. By means of Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) methodology, this paper aims at assessing the environmental sustainability of the pulp and paper production so as to identify those phases across the whole supply chain that entail the highest environmental loads, thus requiring improvements. To determine the environmental impacts as accurately as possible, the manufacturing stages performed in the pulp and paper mill complex of Stora Enso Oyj Veitsiluoto Mills at Kemi, Northern Finland, were taken as a model and assessed by means of the SimaPro 8 LCA software, utilizing ReCiPe Midpoint (H) method for the impact assessment. As expected, most of the resulting impacts are caused by the industrial production phase. The production processes of pulp and paper jointly affect all the investigated impact categories with the highest shares, ranging from 50% of generated impacts on water depletion up to 88% on freshwater eutrophication. Generally, the main contributions to environmental loads come from the electricity and heat requirements and, only at a minor extent, from the use of chemicals such as the sodium hydroxide and sodium chlorate. In particular, pulp production process generates the main loads on global warming (46% of the total impacts), ozone depletion (39%), freshwater eutrophication (55%), human toxicity (46%), metal depletion (42%) and fossil depletion (46%). In the remaining investigated impact categories, namely terrestrial acidification, photochemical oxidant formation and terrestrial ecotoxicity, most of impacts derive from the use of optical brighteners and fillers in the final steps of paper production and from the intensive consumption of water in the recycling step of end-of-life affecting water depletion. Moreover, the implementation of measures for material and energy efficiency in the assessed system, such as the use of renewable energy generated in situ from black liquor and residual biomass to support the requirements of the integrated pulp and paper mills and the waste paper recycling, resulted to be crucial in lowering the environmental burdens. In particular, the partial fulfillment of electricity and heat requirements by means of a circular use of residues within the system leads to a noteworthy reduction of impacts in all the investigated impact categories, up to more than 70% in global warming and fossil depletion potentials, thus contributing to higher process sustainability compared with other averaged European systems for paper production. The obtained research results are a valuable source of management information for the decision makers, at both company and national levels, with the aim to improve the environmental performance of pulp and paper industry. Highlights • A Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) of papermaking in Finland was performed. • The main environmental hotspots in each process step were identified and discussed. • Energy and material efficiency solutions leads to a noteworthy reduction of impacts. • Pulp and paper industry is a benchmark model to transition towards a circular economy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A supply chain's ability to avoid an unexpected disruption or quickly return to a normal situation defines supply chain resilience. Prior works have emphasized the integration of supply chain resilience and sustainable development goals (sustainable supply chain resilience), which is the focus of this paper. This paper proposes a four-level supply chain consisting of suppliers, intermodal hubs, manufacturers, and distributors along with a heterogeneous fleet of vehicles. Two types of manufacturers are included: large and small. The small manufacturers are moveable. To contribute to sustainable logistics problems, the objectives are cost, carbon emissions, and job opportunities when the appropriate supply chain members and flow of materials are optimized. To contribute to supply chain resilience, this paper presents a new robust approach and a new multiobjective algorithm to capture uncertain parameters (e.g., supply cost and employee availability). A numerical example based on empirical data shows the applicability of the proposed model. • This paper proposes sustainable supply chain resilience. • A heterogeneous fleet of vehicles and manufacturers are considered. • A new robust approach is introduced. • A new multiobjective algorithm is proposed. • Datasets along with algorithms codes are available for journal readers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As clean energy technologies proliferate globally, demand for critical minerals has surged, sparking widespread concern about the security of the critical minerals supply chain. However, given the traditional scientometric methods lack of consideration of the importance of keywords and thematic analysis means cannot adaptively extract the core theme, this paper extracts the literature related to critical mineral supply chain security (CMSCS) from the Web of Science literature database system during 1995–2022. We first use scientometrics to analyze the publication volume, author collaboration, institutional collaboration, and national collaboration of CMSCS; secondly, we use cosine distance and nearest neighbor classification algorithms to analyze the dynamic development status of CMSCS, and finally, we utilize the TF-IDF algorithm and the Latent Dirichlet Allocation (LDA) text mining method to model the topics in this field. The results show that (1) global research on CMSCS is rapidly developing. China currently has the most literature in the field of CMSCS. The US, China, and the United Kingdom have the most influential research. (2) The authors collaborated to form nine core teams. The core institutions are the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), and Politecnico di Milano. Most collaborative teams or institutions have strong internal collaborative links. (3) The research hotspots of CMSCS are influenced by national policies, technological development, and social consumption demand, "circular economy", "lithium battery", "recycling potential", and "recycling technology" are the directions that need to be focused on in the future. (4) Supply chain risk assessment, resilience enhancement, and recycling are important topics for future research in this field. In addition, future research on CMSCS should focus on assessing the vulnerability, resilience, and robustness of the critical mineral supply chain from the perspective of the "whole chain" to ensure the security of the global critical mineral supply chain. The research in this paper can help researchers and policy makers to quickly understand the research status and trend direction of CMSCS and provide essential references for promoting the sustainable and resilient management of global CMSCS. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Environmental issues drive the manufacturer to strive for green technology innovation. The manufacturer cannot strictly control all the activities in the production process, which may cause yield uncertainty. However, the existing studies that consider uncertainty factors usually assume that yield is deterministic. This paper constructs a green supply chain considering yield uncertainty and corporate social responsibility by a manufacturer and a retailer under different market power structures. We examine that yield uncertainty negatively affects the optimal decision-making strategies under four different power structures, especially in the centralized model. The retailer who adopts corporate social responsibility can alleviate the negative effects of yield uncertainty to a certain extent. Meanwhile, it is interesting that the manufacturer is not maximizing profits in the market dominated by himself and is subject to interference from yield uncertainty and corporate social responsibility. When the yield uncertainty is relatively small, the manufacturer's profit is the largest in the retailer-dominated market structure. However, when the yield uncertainty is significant, the revenue for the manufacturer is the largest in the manufacturer-dominated market. Regardless of how the yield uncertainty changes, the retailer's profit is always the largest in the retailer-led model. To alleviate the manufacturer's green costs, the retailer will share part of their revenue with the manufacturer under the Nash model. The Nash-revenue-sharing contract always benefits the manufacturer but hurts the profits of the retailer with a higher sharing coefficient. Finally, this paper provides prominent implications for managers and governments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In today's competitive world, gathering precise context knowledge is a critical barrier for industry practitioners, professionals, and researchers in supply chain management, impeding their capacity to acquire expertise and give effective management awareness. In this regard, this study aimed to identify the data-driven capabilities of supply chain management. Realising the abovementioned issues, the existing literature on supply chain management needs to be further reviewed to explore the data-driven capabilities for sustainable supply chains. The study presented a systematic literature review on a data-driven sustainable supply chain to achieve this goal. One hundred ninety-seven documents from various publications were identified for bibliometric and network analysis from the Scopus database using specific keywords related to the research concept published during 2013–2023 through inclusion and exclusion criteria. The emerging themes were identified using the "R" package and reviewed the papers were reviewed in theme directions. The study showed that implementing data-driven and sustainable technologies could assist strategic decision-making. Also, Data-driven solutions can effectively improve sustainability in supply chain network operations performance. The study demonstrates that big data can contribute to achieving sustainability goals through bibliometric analysis and critique of previous papers published in the specialised field. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many governments in different countries and regions incentivize enterprises to recycle and remanufacture through subsidies to improve resource recovery efficiency. This article establishes a supply chain consisting of retailer R, manufacturer M, and third-party supplier N based on government regulations. Firstly, This paper discussed whether retailer R should establish its brand. Secondly, whether manufacturer M chooses internal recycling and whether to cooperate with competitive or non-competitive suppliers was discussed. Finally, the issue of incentive consistency was discussed from the government's perspective. This paper has established four typical scenarios: basic Scenario, cooperative competition, complete competition scenario, and tripartite Scenario. Our research results indicate that Recycling subsidies and remanufacturing subsidies have a promoting effect on retailer R's establishment of independent brands and manufacturer M's participation in internal recycling, with recycling subsidies having a more significant promoting effect on manufacturer M's participation in internal recycling. The government should control the recycling subsidy not to be too high to ensure that both manufacturer M and retailer R prefer the CO scenario and enhance the stability of the supply chain. At the same time, remanufacturing subsidies should be appropriately increased to increase social welfare. • Manufacturer M's brand, subsidies & sales costs influence strategic decisions. • High subsidies allow retailer R to establish & benefit from its own brand. • Manufacturer M can offset sales costs with high recycling subsidies. • Government seeks stable production, prioritizing CO cooperation scenario. • For optimal social welfare, government should regulate subsidy amounts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the past two decades, researchers have investigated buyer-supplier relationships (BSRs) to foster supply chain decarbonization as a countermeasure to the effects of climate change. However, the academic intellectual foundation is still far from maturing, not only because of its novelty but also because scholars have focused on narrow topics and theoretical lenses. Thus, this paper aims to understand the present intellectual structure of BSRs in low-carbon supply chains (LCSCs) while showing the lack of knowledge and the need to investigate research topics through multiple theoretical lenses. In this study, a literature review was conducted by collecting data without date restriction in July 2023 and analyzing 804 peer-reviewed articles from top-ranked academic journals. Both quantitative and qualitative methods were applied for the paper's content analysis, including a multiple correspondence analysis and a homogeneity analysis of variance by means of alternating least squares (HOMALS) to map the data. The results show a high degree of fragmentation within the present theoretical foundation of BSRs in LCSCs, including a limited application of theoretical lenses and the need for a balanced research agenda. Based on the assessment of the existent literature, 29 research propositions are presented and they are categorized under eight theoretical lenses that constitute the interpretive framework. This study contributes to building theoretical knowledge of supply chain management 1) by analyzing the present intellectual foundation while mapping investigated research topics and theories in a two-dimensional graph and 2) by proposing a balanced research agenda with 29 research propositions to develop the field of BSRs in LCSCs. In addition to the method's originality in the mentioned field, this review highlights emerging research topics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aims to synthesize the extant literature on supply chain (SC) resilience and draw a roadmap for resilient SCs by employing a systematic literature review (SLR). The paper utilizes an SLR methodology to draw upon important themes and sub-themes. This is based on a pool of papers published in peer-reviewed journals. Major themes identified included SC networks and structures, Industry 4.0 and digitalization, innovation and entrepreneurship, capabilities and strategies, SC risk management, circular economy and sustainability. SC networks and structures, as well as the role of information technology and Industry 4.0, are an important theme of research in the literature. The literature at this juncture has mainly highlighted the role of big data analytics, blockchain technology, and artificial intelligence in SC resilience. In addition, the important capabilities highlighted by researchers include SC flexibility, SC capacity, SC robustness, SC relationship management and SC leadership for improving SC resilience. The important themes and sub-themes identified in the study would help identify the strategic fields of action for creating resilient SCs. Particularly, the conceptualization of resilience within the SCs would help to uncover the factors that play an important role in improving the SCs. Further, the study also focuses on the interplay between sustainability and resilience. The present study will help managers to understand the factors that affect resilience in SCs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims to investigate the supply chain and reverse channels of expanded polystyrene packaging connection in Brazil and their roles to discuss the main challenges towards circular economy. In order to achieve this goal, we propose a four-step method, anchored in the literature, technical visits, and interviews with experts in the expanded polystyrene (EPS) industry. First, the EPS supply chain was characterised and mapped, and secondly, the stakeholders and logistics activities in reverse channels were analysed. Third, the Brazilian legislation and chain structure was reviewed to obtain an understanding of how this can influence the activities developed in reverse channels. Fourth, with an analysis of the data collected before, the barriers to implement EPS reverse chain were presented. The main results establish that the EPS can complete one cycle of the circular economy, which is recycling, but products need to be separated and washed. The most significant waste generators are public and private institutions, residences, and retailers. Notable barriers to its recycling are a lack of understanding of the nature of expanded polystyrene recycling by Brazilian people, high transport cost due to material density, and the dispersion of post-consumer expanded polystyrene in several regions of the country linked with the small number of recycling facilities. Finally, this issue could be explored in industries and companies that require their managers to adopt strategies to improve reverse logistics in order to promote the circular economy. The companies' actions could facilitate a stronger circular supply chain since they could increase recycling efforts, reduce expanded polystyrene waste, and present new business models. The resulting generation of employment would contribute to the quality of life of contemporary society. The findings presented in the paper enable industries to identify and guide the most demanding significant steps and processes, and to shift the reverse chain and expanded polystyrene recycling to ensure that they operate more efficiently. • Reverse logistics as the first step towards circular supply chain. • The paper maps the expanded polystyrene packaging supply chain and its reverse logistics. • This paper presents the barriers that hinder the reverse logistics in Brazil. • The main challenges are related to the consumers and the recycling industries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Increasing pressure from governments and stakeholders has motivated the study of sustainability assessment in the supply chain context at operational, tactical, and strategic levels. Several papers have been published during the last two decades, and the number is still rising. Although several authors present complex models that include environmental and social assessment, the applicability and usefulness of these works is often limited by lack of data availability and lack of consensus in what is to be measured on implementations of sustainable practices and strategies. This paper presents a systematic literature review of works addressing the supply chain network design (SCND) problem, in which at least two of the three dimensions of sustainability are assessed. This paper aims to identify indicators that are used when sustainability is evaluated in real applied cases. A total of 113 papers from 2015 to 2018 were selected, including documents studying forward, reverse, and closed loop supply chains (CLSC). Indicators in the economic, environmental, and social dimensions were classified according to an existing framework in the sustainable supply chain literature. The review finds a highlighted emphasis on environmental considerations; social criteria are still hardly studied. The study country origin analysis also shows an increasing concern for sustainable practices in developing economies, mainly in Asia. Finally, this paper presents a brief description of the areas where research opportunities exist, including sectors, measures, and methodologies to assess sustainability in the SCND problem. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Supply chain effectiveness and general societal prosperity, as well as economic and ecological productivity will be highly affected in the next decades, entailing challenges for the supply chain and logistics sector. Thereby this sector plays a significant role within the transformation process of economic systems, yet the capacities of it remain up till now underestimated. This paper suggests a holistic approach to assess transformation potential of the supply chain and logistics sector towards more sustainable economic systems while defining innovative business strategies to meet future macroeconomic developments. This is achieved through an integrated assessment of production and consumption systems, considering the interests of the key stakeholders. Moreover, the paper combines advanced methods to develop future macroeconomic scenarios and to assess the strategic business opportunities of the supply chain and logistics sector addressing societal developments, e.g. new consumption patterns. The analysis relies on modern theories of Environmental and Ecological Economics, contributing to transformation theories. Moreover, the innovative role of supply chain and logistics management in achieving sustainable macroeconomic goals at regional and international levels is addressed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Disruption in the electric power system network can have dramatic effects on supply chain performance in terms of economic and environmental objectives, especially for perishable products. This paper addresses the design of a resilient green-closed loop supply chain network for perishable products under the risk of electric power network disruption. The research has presented an integrated model for the interdependent two-layer network structure as a strategy to mitigate the power disruption risk in order to minimize the expected total network cost and the expected total amount of carbon emissions. Integration of two networks on both objectives along with the effect of products' lifetime has been analyzed in a real case study of the dairy industry. The results designate that the integration of the two networks leads to improvements in both objective functions. The average total network cost and total carbon emissions have been reduced by 21% and 25% compared to the non-integrated layers, respectively. Furthermore, by increasing the products lifetime, the projected model enjoys higher performance being compared with the non-integrated layers model. This paper concludes that the integrated decision making about the infrastructure networks e.g. power network with the supply chain enjoys economic and environmental benefits for both networks layers under power network disruptions. • Considering the risk of power network disruption in closed-loop supply chain design problem. • Integrating the supply chain network of perishable products with the power network to manage disruption of the power network. • Designing a resilient-green CLSC for perishable goods with environmental concerns of both supply chain and power networks. • Proposing a bi-objective mixed-integer linear program model for the introduced problem. • Applying the proposed model in a real case study in an Iranian dairy company. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Information has become an extremely important commodity nowadays. The privatization of corporate social responsibility cost information has a negative impact on the sustainable development of supply chain. Hence, it is important to set up a reasonable coordination mechanism to encourage the supply chain members to reveal the true corporate social responsibility cost information. This paper investigates corporate social responsibility-sensitive supply chain, where a contract supplier sells products through a brand retailer. The contract supplier can invest in corporate social responsibility activities, but its corporate social responsibility cost information is only privately known to him. According the corporate social responsibility cost information revealed by the supplier, the retailer will decide whether to cooperate with him for a long time. Stackelberg game is used to explore the impact of the cost information asymmetry on the decision of supply chain members. The paper compares the decision effects under information asymmetry and symmetry decision, and designs a coordination mechanism for promoting the supplier to reveal the true corporate social responsibility cost information and achieving the supply chain coordination. The results show that the decision-making effect under symmetric information is better than asymmetric information, and the supplier's profit under the designed mechanism is not lower than that under asymmetric information. Moreover, the designed mechanism can improve the supplier's commitment to corporate social responsibility and eliminate double marginal effect to a certain extend. This paper provides managerial and practical insights for the enterprise adopting sustainable business models. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The increasing urban logistics transportation activities hugely impact the economy and environment. This paper investigates the combined impact of ambient temperature, path flexibility, and hybrid fleet on the economy and environment in urban logistics. The proposed problem is a variant of the location-routing problem (LRP) named dual-mode energy-conserving LRP (DMECLRP) that handles the combination of three types of decisions: the location of depots, the design of the distribution routes, and the location of charging stations (CSs) and battery swapping stations (BSSs). The objective is to minimize the total cost, including the daily fixed costs of operating depots, the cost of renting vehicles and depreciation, driver compensation, and the routing costs, where the latter can be defined concerning the cost of the consumed energy and CO 2 emissions. Due to the NP-hardness of the problem, this paper presents a Q-learning-based hyper-heuristic (QLHH) algorithm to address the DMECLRP. The QLHH employs a Q-learning approach to select appropriate heuristics through its search process and simulated annealing to determine the acceptance of solutions. Results show that the proposed algorithm is effective, providing competitive results for LRP benchmark instances within reasonable computing time, and the proposed model can effectively reduce logistics costs, energy consumption, and CO 2 emissions. Extensive analyses are carried out to empirically assess the effect of ambient temperature, path flexibility, and hybrid fleet on key performance indicators, including energy consumption, carbon emissions, and operational costs. Several managerial insights are provided. • Impacts of ambient temperature on electric vehicle in logistics network. • A strategy of path flexibility and a hybrid fleet of electric and fuel vehicles. • A model for the energy-conserving logistics network considering carbon emissions. • A Q-learning-based hyperheuristic combined with simulated annealing acceptance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A fair and effective allocation of carbon quotas is crucial for China to achieve its "Double Carbon" goals and the effective operation of its carbon trading market. By constructing a differential game model, this study explored the effects of the technology spillovers and incremental costs of carbon transfers on the allocation of carbon quotas under centralised and decentralised decision-making scenarios with the purpose of maximizing social welfare. This paper proposes a cost-sharing contract to coordinate a supply chain for the loss of social welfare under decentralised decision-making. The results show that the effects of spillovers and incremental costs on carbon quota allocation depend upon the enterprises' abatement costs. The suppliers' carbon quotas are negatively correlated with the spillover effects. The incremental cost effects will be more pronounced for suppliers when their abatement costs are high and they could obtain more carbon quotas accordingly. When the manufacturer's abatement costs are low (high), its carbon quotas decrease (increase) with the spillover effects but increase (decrease) with the incremental costs. The cost-sharing contract achieves Pareto improvements based on improved social welfare and increased carbon quotas for both the manufacturer and supplier. Given the effects of carbon transfer on enterprises with different abatement costs, this paper can provide the government with a reference for designing an allocation mechanism for carbon quotas. [Display omitted] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a conceptual framework that reflects the current state of thinking on tokenizing circularity in agri-food systems. The framework is built upon classifications of tokens and the key principles of circular economy and shows how tokenization can support circularity in agri-food systems through the flows of information and flows of value. Based on an integrative review of literature on tokenization, blockchain and the circular economy and multiple case studies in the agri-food domain, we show the relevance of tokenization to the circular economy in three ways: 1) enhancing traceability of physical and digital objects in supply chains; 2) improving transparency and credibility of circularity claims; 3) facilitating collaborative business ecosystems with incentives for more circular production and distribution. Based on the framework, we derive important research questions for future research agenda on tokenizing circularity in agri-food systems. [Display omitted] • The paper contributes to a better understanding of tokenization in agri-food. • A conceptual framework is developed for tokenizing circularity in agri-food. • Different pathways to tokenization in agri-food systems have been shown. • The framework is applied to six use cases in agri-food systems on tokenization. • The framework can be used by stakeholders to design tokenization in agri-food. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper proposes a closed-loop supply chain model to study the impact of product returns and awareness program on e-waste supply chain. The study focuses on the sustainability aspects of e-waste management and the effects such initiatives bring about to the environment at large. Reusing and recycling of collected products in manufacturing will improve the supply of scarce resources and reduce reliance on virgin raw materials. Engaging in CLSC can enhance brand reputation and competitiveness through sustainability while reducing the health risks to informal recycling workers by formalizing practices. The proposed model consists of a manufacturer, retailer, and third-party collector (TPC) under wholesale price and incentive contracts with deterministic demand. From the analysis it is observed that integrating a third-party collector with higher recycling rate boosts the total profit of the decentralized setting with a TPC. The centralized model, with a single decision maker, results in lower retail prices and higher collection rates compared to the decentralized models thereby commanding a higher overall profit. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The scientific formulation of procurement and inventory plans is an important topic in the steel industry, when considering both economic and environmental impacts in an uncertain market environment. Robust optimization methods offer an effective solution to this problem. This study has investigated a multi-echelon and multi-period front-end supply chain centered on a steel enterprise under uncertain purchase prices and demand. The goal is to minimize the costs associated with mining, processing, transportation, procurement, and inventory along with the corresponding carbon emission costs. To address this issue, we present a robust rolling horizon model (RRHM) that considers the inventory capacity constraints of steel enterprise and incorporates ore grade requirements. Subsequently, the RRHM was reformulated into a solvable mixed-integer linear programming model, and the relationship between the robust model and a specific deterministic model was established. Finally, the model was validated by generating instances based on real scenarios. The results demonstrate that the robust rolling horizon model proposed in this paper outperforms both the Sample Average Approximation (SAA) strategy and the (s, S) strategy in terms of cost and robustness. In addition, a sensitivity analysis of the key parameters was conducted. The findings reveal that the unit inventory, mining, and carbon emission costs have a limited impact on the total cost, highlighting the robustness of the model. These findings provide valuable insights into the green and sustainable development of the steel industry, enabling the formulation of effective strategies to mitigate the impacts of uncertainties. • Making steel raw material procurement plans amidst demand and price uncertainties. • Robust rolling horizon model is formulated, exploring its relationship with others. • The robust model exhibits certain advantages compared to SAA and (s, S) strategies. • Managerial insights for steel enterprises' procurement strategies are offered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There has been limited progress in addressing the demand uncertainty inherent over time and the sustainability impact on food logistics. This paper aims to fill this gap, addresses the sustainability of cold food supply chains, and proposes a mixed-integer programming model to solve a multi-period inventory routing problem (IRP) under non-stationary stochastic demand, route-dependent costs, and environmental concerns. The study investigates the replenishment and routing plans to minimise the total expected cost while producing a minimum amount of CO 2 emission. Due to the uncertainty of demand, we apply the static-dynamic strategy and propose a mathematical model under the (R , S) replenishment policy to maintain flexibility in ordering decisions under a pre-determined replenishment schedule. Our numerical experiments suggest that the (R , S) policy reduces inventory costs significantly, since it solves the excess inventory issue caused by the higher buffer stock levels due to the pre-determined order quantities in the (R , Q) policy. However, the resulting CO 2 emission levels and routing costs remain similar in both models. Due to the reduced inventory costs, the (R , S) policy makes a significant improvement on the total cost. Moreover, our numerical experiments show that the difference between the cumulative ending inventory levels for the (R , Q) and (R , S) policies increasingly grows as the time horizon gets longer, and it results in increasingly larger differences in the total cost values for both policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As the "Internet+" mode promotes transforming and upgrading the traditional recycling industry, dual-channel recycling has become the focus of commercial activities. Based on such background, this paper constructs the differential game models of the dual-channel closed-loop supply chain (DCCLSC) system in the complete non-cooperation (DN), incomplete cooperation (D), and complete cooperation (C) scenarios by applying game theory. The novelty is that recycling and pricing decision problems are investigated for the DCCLSC system from a dynamic perspective. A cost sharing-transfer payment contract is designed to realize the perfect coordination of the DCCLSC system. Moreover, the extended models with government intervention and inventory management are proposed. Finally, the numerical examples are used to verify the feasibility and validity of the addressed results. The results show that 1) online retail price is higher than offline retail price when μ > μ N ; 2) The retail price in the DN model is always lower than the D model, and their comparative relationship with the C model is closely related to the ratio of recoverability rate; 3) The recoverability rate and the profit of DCCLSC system are highest in the C model; 4) Competition and government intervention can create a win-win situation with improving environmental and economic benefits. • Establish the differential game model for the dual-channel closed-loop supply chain system. • The recycling and pricing strategies are derived from the dynamic perspective. • Design the cost sharing-transfer payment contract to achieve the coordination of dual channel closed-loop supply chain. • Discuss the impact of competition intensity on the recycling and pricing strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study was motivated by the activation of recent poverty alleviation practices within green supply chains. Specifically, this paper examined supply chain operations when the supply chain participants acted individually and cooperatively in a "green poverty alleviation" supply chain in which the manufacturer initiated product "greening" and provided microfinance to alleviate the poverty of poor raw materials suppliers. A series of supply chain game models were examined to elucidate the impact of the cooperative mechanisms on the greening levels, prices and profits, after which the impact of consumer green sensitivities and microfinance interest rates were examined. Consequently, an optimal cooperative mechanism was developed based on a two-part tariff contract. The key contributions in this paper are the establishment of a decision-making model for a cooperative supply chain mechanism and an optimal cooperative mechanism to initiate "green poverty alleviation" to solve the problems associated with the high microfinance interest rates. Practical implications and managerial insights about improving the economic and environmental performance of supply chain "green poverty alleviation" through cooperation are also presented. • Sustainable supply chain mechanism for green and poverty alleviationinitiatives • Joint action and bargaining cooperative mechanism for the sustainable supply chain. • Cooperative mechanism to solve the problem of high interest rate of microfinance. • Green sensitivity increasing will promote supply chain enterprises to cooperate. • A coordinated cooperation mechanism will further promote cooperation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper formulates Stackelberg game models to analyze the optimal pricing and recycling policies for a closed-loop supply chain with retailer and third party dual collection channels, in which the transfer prices paid by the manufacturer to the two recyclers are either uniform or different and government subsidy is provided with either the manufacturer or the two recyclers. By doing system comparisons and numerical examples, this paper explores the effects of subsidy policies and transfer pricing policies from the perspectives of the customers, the environment and the members. The results show that the usage of either remanufacturing or recycling subsidy would stimulate the consumption, increase the recovery and improve the members' profits. Moreover, it is beneficial for the customer, the manufacturer and the retailer when different transfer prices are paid to the two recyclers for collecting used products, and in contrast, it is beneficial for the environment and the third party when uniform transfer prices are paid to the two recyclers for collecting used products. Due to the manufacturer's dominant position, the supply chain is more willing to collect used products from the two recyclers with different transfer prices. Finally, the effectiveness of subsidy policies on the retail price, the total collection rate and the members' performance is associated with the size of the subsidy, while is unrelated with the type of the subsidy. Image 10852 • A closed-loop supply chain with retailer and third party collection is considered. • The impacts of subsidy policies and transfer pricing policies are explored. • The transfer pricing policy should be carried out based on the incentive objects. • The effectiveness of subsidy policies depends on the size of the subsidy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Traceability systems are perceived as a powerful solution to cope with food safety issues. It is important to improve the traceability for food supply chains to address potential food safety events. This paper studies the sourcing decisions in a food supply chain, in which the buyer is exposed to potential food safety events due to supplier responsibility. It is shown that the buyer may fail to source from the supplier with high-level traceability on account of information asymmetry. To address this adverse selection problem, this paper employs the certification as a screening tool, and find that the buyer could separate the two types perfectly with a pooling contract with certification, if the probability of the high type is low; otherwise, a pooling contract only separate the two types partially. This paper further considers a setting in which traceability strengthens the food safety level. It is shown that the buyer prefers the supplier with high-level traceability even the unit cost incurred by food safety events or the probability of the supplier with high-level traceability is lower. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Material efficiency in lifecycles is a challenge that affects product innovators, producers and political stakeholders. The recycling and waste management is a direct consequence of this challenge, heavily compounded by data requirements. Especially third parties such as recyclers, remanufacturers or waste treatment sites face limited documentation and data on products. In addition, those actors face additional data management challenges due to their distinct upstream supply chains of dispersed suppliers and hence due to interrupted information flows. This study investigated various software tools to critically compare the tool's potential to improve data availability and data completeness, as well as the management of the reuse or recycling business processes using Enterprise Resource Planning software evaluation metrics for each waste-related sub-domain. The main objective of this paper is thus to provide a framework for comparison through key features, measured adherence to these features and to infer how this affects the software landscape. Software packages were sampled using public software listings and keyword filters to arrive at a final subset of publically accessible software packages, which were then critically analysed and compared by feature support. The main results of the comparison of these software packages in the discussed waste-related sub-domains revealed that data compatibility between packages and reporting requirements is the largest issue on a general level. On the level of sub-domains, the results showed that software offerings lack essential domain-specific features in order to support circular lifecycles of products and materials. Secondary results revealed a lack of database interoperability and various lesser concerns, such as incorrectly reported pricing or obsolescence information. The impact of these missing features reinforces the "silo" effect of packages, reduces the adoption rate in larger companies, and compounds the problem of smaller start-ups and companies using manual paper-based solutions and lacking reporting capabilities. Publically available databases and an increased rate of sharing of information between Original Equipment Manufacturers and recyclers would improve the decision-making through software solutions in waste-related processing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract This paper studies a three-period electric vehicle battery recycle and reuse closed-loop supply chain consisting of a battery manufacturer and a remanufacturer. Differing from other products and existing research, used electric vehicle batteries can be instantly reused for other purposes before recycling, such as energy storage. In order to optimise total profits in the whole supply chain in different batteries period of use, this paper develops the optimal pricing strategy between manufacturer and remanufacturer, discusses the relationships between return yield, sorting rate, recycling rate in order to optimise total profit in different period. The result suggests that, comparing with new battery manufacturing, battery recycling and reusing would contribute to reduce raw material consumption hence reduce environmental impact, but may not gain financial benefits. It also notes that although the close-loop supply chain is nonlinearly complicated, some relationships between parameters can be treated as linear or quadratic. The results of this research will help practitioners to better understand the entire closed-loop supply chain in order to enhance its collaboration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The issue of food waste is increasingly attracting scientific and public interest due to the magnitude of the problem (in terms of quantity and global reach) and the growing attention to healthy and sustainable food production and consumption. As a consequence, an increasing number of initiatives aim to reduce the food discarded in each stage of the supply chain, from production and storage down to cooking and consumption. Still, food waste remains an unsolved issue, and many initiatives struggle to move from the design stage to full-scale implementation. This research paper focuses on a successful food waste reduction project in a school canteen in northern Italy. The case study illustrated in this paper demonstrates how it is possible to implement an effective initiative to reduce food waste with limited investment by leveraging the involvement of stakeholders. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Honey is a natural sweetener that requires minimal industrial technologies and is the subject of thriving markets along with its derived products. It has been estimated that about 35% of food consumption depends directly on the pollination of fruit and vegetable crops. A Social Life Cycle Assessment (S-LCA) case-study is applied in the agro-food sector to assess the social and socio-economic aspects of the life cycle of honey through the Subcategory Assessment Method (SAM). The objectives of this paper are three-fold: i) evaluate the capability of S-LCA to capture the complexity of a multifunctional product, which delivers fundamental ecosystem services with consequences at environmental, economic and social levels; ii) identify how to define and represent, with robust indicators, the positive social aspects generated by honey life cycle; iii) identify the steps to improve the S-LCA methodology, especially for its application to complex product systems, such as the agri-food ones. This paper presents a methodological framework to support decision makers in order to evaluate the social sustainability of the Italian honey sector. The presence of positive social aspects in the life cycle of a jar of honey was highlighted as well as a strong connection between the honey product and local community. Furthermore, a weak relation between suppliers along the entire supply chain emerged. The findings lead to the conclusion that further developments are required in order to improve the assessment of the multifunctional product and to reinforce the awareness of the social sustainability by starting from strong collaborations within the supply chain. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Sustainable supply chain is widely studied and investigated in various papers due to the presence of increasing environmental pollution and social risks caused by manufactories, transportation vehicles, and unused and defective products spilled into the nature; e.g. tires. This paper designs a closed loop supply chain network taking into consideration sustainability aspects and quantity discounts under uncertainty. To this end, a stochastic multi-objective optimization for supplier selection and location-allocation-routing problems is formulated. The first and second objectives of the model attempt to minimize total costs and environmental emission effects, respectively. The third objective seeks to maximize the responsiveness of the integrated network. Also, ɛ-constraint method is applied to solve the proposed framework. To verify the model, a real-world case study placed in Iran is provided and a sensitivity analysis is performed to measure the efficiency of the proposed framework. Results confirm the efficiency of the proposed approach, showing the practicability of the proposed approach for managers. Finally, future research directions are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is undeniable that every organization and company will eventually need to move toward sustainability if they wish to survive and remain competitive. In order to attain sustainability, it is very important to optimize all its dimensions at the same time. In this paper, we consider a two-tier model consists of a supply chain and government that government in a higher level role as a leader for the whole supply chain. For both levels, three dimensions of sustainability, namely economic, social and environmental dimensions, are defined and each is considered in modeling. In this paper, consumer surplus is considered as an indicator of social welfare for the social dimension of sustainability, and for the first time, consumer surplus is modeled based on two variables that one is price and other is greening level of the product. Our findings show how the consumer surplus may increase as product price rises. Our findings also show that cooperation between the manufacturer and retailer always lead to produce a greener product, increase the profit of the entire supply chain and increase consumer surplus of customers. Also in models with government intervention, the government imposes (pays) a lower (greater) tax (subsidy) on the final price of the product. We also find that the retail price in the cooperation models always is not lower than that in the noncooperation models which contrasts with the result of ‘double marginalization’. Results also show that different government policies have significant impacts on the profit of the supply chain members as well as on the environment. Incorporating a fraction of consumer surplus in the government utility function has a greater effect on the supply chain members' profit, and on the green degree of the product, than considering environmental concerns. We also propose a contract to coordinate the decentralized supply chain. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Quantifying the use of resources in food production and its environmental impact is key to identifying distinctive measures which can be used to develop pathways towards low-carbon food systems. In this paper, a first-principle modelling approach is developed, referred to as gThermaR (Glasshouse-Thermal Requirements). gThermaR is a generic tool that focuses on the energy requirements of protected heated production, by integrating holistic energy, carbon, and cost modelling, food production, data analytics and visualization. The gThermaR tool employs historic data from weather stations, growing schedules and requirements specific to grower and product needs (e.g. set-point temperatures, heating periods, etc.) in order to quantify the heating and cooling requirements of glasshouse food production. In the present paper, a case study is reported that employs a database compiled for the UK. Another relevant feature of the tool is that it can quantify the effects that spatial and annual weather trends can have on these heating and cooling requirements. The main contribution of this work, therefore, concerns the development a tool that can provide a simple integrated approach for performing a wide range of analyses relevant to the thermal requirements of heated glasshouses. The tool is validated through collaborations with industrial partners and showcased in a case study of a heated glasshouse in the UK, offering the capacity to benchmark and compare different glasshouse types and food growth processes. Results from the case study indicate that a significant reduction in the heating requirement and, therefore, carbon footprint, of the facility can be achieved by improving key design and operational parameters. Results indicate savings in the peak daily and annual heating requirements of 44–50% and 51–57% respectively, depending on the region where the glasshouse is located. This improvement is also reflected in the carbon emissions and operating costs for the different energy sources considered. Furthermore, the temporal variability/uncertainty of the annual energy requirements and of the peak daily energy requirements are found to be considerably lowered through improvements to the glasshouse attributes. Overall, gThermaR proves its value in quantifying and identifying key factors that have a significant impact on energy requirements of heated glasshouses. Such valuable outputs are invaluable for stakeholders in the food industry that have an interest in mapping the sustainability and mitigating the carbon footprint of their supply chain processes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the rise of climate disasters, consumers have growing interest in low-carbon products. Considering the information updating of low-carbon preferences, this paper analyses incentive strategies for low-carbon supply chains. Based on the public's increase in environmental awareness during the lead time of supply chains, this paper first describes information updating in low-carbon supply chains. Second, we analyze the response decisions of this supply chain under the given incentive strategies. Based on these decisions, an optimal model of carbon reduction is then designed for the government. Finally, these best incentive strategies (including promotion allowance and carbon reduction) are optimized using a heuristic algorithm. The numerical results reveal that cooperation of profit-driven supply chain members improves not only their profits but also carbon reduction efficiency. Governments should promote the coordination of low-carbon supply chains to realize win-win outcomes. In addition, a reasonably higher carbon reduction level and sale price can both help to weaken the bullwhip effect of the supply chain. Effective information updating improves the carbon reduction efficiency better than a promotion allowance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Food loss and waste is relevant for all stages of a food supply chain. Methodological and empirical solutions are needed to properly quantify these losses. The present paper embarks on the quantification of food loss in the Lithuanian food processing sector. This issue has not received substantial coverage in the literature yet, even though the transition economies face serious food losses due to malfunctioning markets and limited understanding of the issue of food loss and waste in general. In this paper, by exploiting the questionnaire survey, the food loss rates in the major sub-sectors of the Lithuanian food industry are assessed and the root causes behind food loss are identified. The results are then extrapolated to provide insights into the extent of food loss in the Lithuanian food industry as a whole. The results suggest that an estimated 10.9 thousand tonnes of food, or 4 kg per capita, may be lost at the processing level each year in the country. Issues related to processing operations as well as product non-compliance with commercial standards appear as the underlying causes for food loss. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The importance of sustainable operations in supply chains has been widely recognised in practice and the extant literature. In this paper, we study coordination issues of a sustainable supply chain that arise due to simultaneous consideration of greening and corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives undertaken by supply chain agents. We specifically consider the scenario where the supplier is responsible for greening and the buyer is accountable for social responsibility. We analyse our model using two-stage Stackelberg game-theoretic approach where the supplier acts as a Stackelberg leader. In this context, we analyse the decentralised supply chain setting using five different contract types, namely wholesale price, linear two-part tariff (LTT), greening-cost sharing, revenue sharing, and revenue and greening-cost sharing contracts (RGCS). We demonstrate how optimal greening level, CSR level, retail price and profits of supply chain agents are influenced by different contract types. Our analytical results show that greening and social efforts undertaken by supply chain agents are beneficial for the overall supply chain as long as consumer awareness towards greening and CSR exists. Our results show that channel coordinating mechanisms between supplier and buyer is conducive to improve greening and CSR level. LTT perfectly coordinates the supply chain. Through a numerical example with several key parameters we present the effectiveness of different contracts. The results reveal that as a profit maximising agent the supplier prefers LTT contract and the buyer prefers RGCS contract. This paper extends the understanding of supply chain coordination in the context of sustainability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The needed transition from a fossil-to a bio-based economy fosters the utilization of biological resources derived from recycled low value by-products and waste streams. Chain actors face multiple challenges associated with the adoption of novel processing technologies. Bio-based technologies might be related to high switching costs, missing downstream processing technologies, lack of quality standards, missing industry standards, emerging regulatory frameworks. Moreover, as previously unrelated actors form new relationships, value chains are moving towards new structural changes. This paper thus seeks to explore the challenges associated with the emergence of novel value chains with an exploratory case study approach that reviews a new process of recovering phosphate - a typical scarce and fundamental resource - from rapeseed oil press cakes. The contribution of our paper is thus not only to provide conclusions for this specific case, but also, and more importantly, to present a blueprint for other cases of scarce resources that require the establishment of novel supply chains to foster cascading usage of by-products. Expert interviews with different value chain actors have been conducted to investigate arising challenges, and derive implications and a further research agenda. Despite the advantages of the bio-based process, interviews revealed several challenges associated with the emergence of novel value chains: hesitation of respondents in making new investments in terms of equipment and know-how, missing complementary competencies, and difficulties in integrating different industrial sectors to engage in cross-industry innovation, such as food processing (rapeseed oil cakes) and specialty chemicals/mineral (phosphate and its derivatives). These exploratory results open the way for some useful recommendations, enabling us to propose an agenda for further research and policy development in areas such as: development of synergies between academia and industry; formulation of management strategies to support the flexibility of firms to capture opportunities associated with by-product valorization; building a systemic approach at a local level to implement bio-based technology clusters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Food deterioration is becoming a crucial problem for most countries in the world, which may cause both economical losses and environmental damages. In this paper, a Stackelberg gaming model for a three-level food supply chain (consists of one retailer, one vendor and one supplier) with production disruption is established, which aims to study the optimal pricing, inventory and preservation decisions that maximize the individual profit. In the decentralized supply chain, upstream firms act as leaders and downstream firms as followers. Due to the mathematical complexity, an illustrative algorithm is developed to solve the problem. Numerical tests show that retailer's preservation investment not only benefits itself, but also benefits the vendor and the supplier. Comparing the optimal decisions to that in the ‘forward integration’ and ‘backward integration’ model, supply chain members' vertical cooperation helps to enhance the total profit. Meanwhile, the carbon footprint of the food supply chain is also studied. It is found that, vertical cooperation contributes to the reduction of carbon emission. In most situations, ‘forward integration’ outperforms ‘backward integration’ strategy because it incents the retailer to invest more in preservation and reduce food deterioration. Other managerial implications are also shown in the paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the framework of pressing local and global environmental challenges it is essential to understand that cities are complex systems dependent on and linked to the rest of the world through global supply chains that embody an array of environmental flows. Cities are thus a complex articulation that intertwine local and global challenges which rely at their extended hinterland for their resource use and pollution emission. To assess the environmental sustainability of an urban area in a comprehensive manner, it is not only necessary to measure its local and direct environmental performance but also to understand and take into account its global and indirect environmental counterparts. This paper presents a comparative analysis of a territorial-based and a consumption-based approach to estimate both direct and embodied resource use and pollution flows for the case of Brussels Capital Region (Belgium). The territorial-based approach is based on local energy, water and material consumption measured data as well as measured data on waste generation and pollution emissions. The estimation of indirect resource use and pollution emissions (or consumption-based approach) is based on the regional IO-tables of the city-region of Brussels extended with multi-region input-output tables, taking into account the global flows of consumption. The comparison of these two approaches is particularly relevant in the case of cities that have limited productive activities and limited or no extraction of materials as the impact on the hinterland is often underestimated or neglected by local (environmental) policies which are only based on territorial-based figures. The results show that the indirect primary energy use, GHG emissions and material use estimated by the consumption-based approach is more than three times higher than local measures indicate. The embodied water use, estimated via IOA, was over 40 times higher than the local water consumption. These results show that territorial-based approach using local data underestimate the resource needs and pollution emissions of a city and can therefore be insufficient or even be misguiding. By mapping the origin of embodied flows it is in fact possible to illustrate the open character of an urban economy and its dependence on the global hinterland. Finally, this paper discusses the possibility and relevance to combine these two approaches to create a hybrid framework that measures the full environmental performance of cities both accurately and comprehensively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Drug shortage compromises patient safety and increases the vulnerability of the overall healthcare system. Improving patient service level in the pharmaceutical industry context is a major endeavor towards a socially responsible supply chain. However, service levels are difficult to achieve as the actors (i.e. distributors and retailers) within the pharmaceutical supply chain (PSC) tend to maximize their respective self-interests. This paper illustrates how one can coordinate the PSC with service level consideration through a multi-objective collaborative decision making model. A two-level PSC comprising one pharma-distributor and one pharma-retailer with stochastic demand sets the backdrop of the study. The pharma-distributor's visit interval determines the duration of the review period of the pharma-retailer's inventory policy. Specifically, this paper incorporates the visit interval and safety stock level into the trade-offs between the entire PSC profit and the service level under decentralized and centralized decision-making scenarios. The augmented ε-constraint method is applied to obtain the Pareto optimal solutions and the trade-offs between the objectives are examined. The results suggest that all the PSC actors are individually better off under a multi-objective collaborative model that also improves the service level and profitability for the entire PSC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The problem of food waste has captured global attention in recent times. The United Nations Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO) estimates that around one-third of the edible parts of food produced for human consumption is lost or wasted globally; equivalent to 1.3 billion ton each year. This paper investigates a newly developed tool to help support better resource management for food manufacturers in dealing with the food waste issues. Our primary contribution lies in our dissection of the participatory nature of the tool development i.e. how do we engage the industries involved for the best social, environmental and economic outcomes? We use a case study method, drawing on data deriving from the various food manufacturing organisations and research partners involved in the development and use of the Dynamic Industry Resource Efficiency Calculation Tool (DIRECT). Through this approach a deep understanding of people and processes involved with the tool development is established, by a ‘triangulation’ of multiple data from a number of project contexts to develop our insights. We conclude by revealing the establishment of new food manufacturing projects for DIRECT, in terms of what the recent commissioners of said projects identify as the value the tool and process provide, and what that might mean for better food waste outcomes in the future. This validates utilising a co-design approach demonstrated in our paper, and justifies further research into broadening the adoption of such methods in addressing food waste. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The problem of industrial pollution has increased globally at presently. Countries across the globe are aware of the concept of sustainable implementation in industries from a local to the global level to reduce pollution. Recent research supported this by focusing on Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) rather than Multinational Corporations (MNC). Sustainability development is a key to ensure control of the hazards and pollution in traditional activities. In India, many SMEs are involved in manufacturing varied products and services for customers. The auto component manufacturing sector is playing as an important role in the Indian economy by creating numerous job opportunities. Based on this, researchers gave special attention to auto components SMEs in sustainable development (SD) because of pollution which harms the environment. Analysis of SD is an essential activity for industries to ensure environmental improvement. Analyzing the indicators for SD helps confirm the development of sustainability in industries. However, analyzing the indicators for SD is a challenge for managers and needs detailed analysis and significant effort. Indicator analysis is a vague concept for managers who lack alternatives to evaluate SD in their industry. The aim of this present paper is to develop a set of measurement indicators for SD from literature. This paper, with the help of discussions with experts and Decision-making Trial and Evaluation Laboratory (DEMATEL) methodology analyzes sustainable development indicators in the auto components sectors. Fifteen SD indicators were considered for this study from a relevant literature background. These SD indicators indicate the industries’ sustainable development. Based on their interest, a questionnaire for this study was circulated among 35 leading auto components manufacturing SMEs in North India. This study will identify the influential indicator for SD based on experts' judgments through a pairwise comparison matrix. The results from the study clearly states that Indian auto component manufacturing industries believe that among the fifteen listed indicators, carbon management indicator helps in measuring sustainable development. Due to this reason, embedded or embodied carbon (SI2) indicator plays an influential role. Finally, the study concludes with insights about the future path of sustainability performance in a developing country like India. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper proposes a new conceptual design tool for bioenergy systems, the 2MBio, and its implementation on the case of wood fuel energy systems (WES) in South Mozambique. Dependence on wood fuel characterises most Sub-Saharan countries and WES are complex socio-ecological systems dynamically linked to crucial development issues, e.g., deforestation and poverty. In Mozambique WES supply over 70% of the national energy needs through an informal business network worth around one million euros each year. In contrast with the 2MBio, currently available tools often aim at supporting decision-making on WES with off-the-shelf expert solutions and optimisation of WES efficiency, supply chains and resource management. While relevant and useful, such approaches are frequently unsuitable to engage the knowledge and creativity of a wide range of crucial actors. The 2MBio addresses this gap providing a simple, visual platform on paper that supports from illiterate to professional users, to stimulate creative ideas and apply current knowledge while designing their own WES. The results of implementation in real settings in South Mozambique produced relevant design breakthroughs. Compared with the absence of any other support tool, and faced with same design challenges, the 2MBio participatory design workshops in south Mozambique resulted in comprehensive analysis of wood fuel energy systems, and innovative integrated WES solutions design. The proposed approach raised participants’ awareness about opportunities and constrains linked to their WES while also facilitating information sharing new learning dynamics and enhance creativity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]