Environmental, operational and financial sustainability of packaging methods in delivery businesses
Name
700932931-MIT.pdf
Description
Full printable version
Size
21.8 MB
Format
Adobe PDF
Checksum (MD5)
ff4caf3e9fa7fc7a47be7e5d71a6609a
Author(s) •
Ng, Joshua (Zi Jie Joshua)
Chow, Kendall
Advisor(s)
Edgar Blanco.
Date Issued
2010
Publisher
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Abstract
In retail delivery companies, packaging is used to transport goods to customers while preventing damage, shrinkage and loss of the contents. With consumer preferences reflecting the growing concern for the environment, retail delivery businesses are at the crossroads of implementing a sustainable operational and financial business model of delivering packages to customers. In this thesis, we will address the issue of sustainable packaging in retail delivery companies by evaluating the financial, environmental and operational viability of such strategies. The thesis will be limited to the downstream order fulfillment cycle from the retail delivery company to the customer. We will focus on three areas applicable to sustainable packaging. The first area is materials innovation where we will analyze alternative materials suitable for retail delivery packaging. The second area involves waste elimination through reducing packaging material use and reusing of packaging materials through a returnable tote program. Lastly, we will understand the implementation challenges to increase the success rate of the strategies mentioned earlier.
Description
Thesis (M. Eng. in Logistics)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Engineering Systems Division, 2010.
Cataloged from PDF version of thesis.
Includes bibliographical references (p. 143-148).
Subjects
Engineering Systems Division.
MIT Department
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Engineering Systems Division
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