Environmental, operational and financial sustainability of packaging methods in delivery businesses

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.