Sustainable Logistics Systems: A Conceptual Paper

Sustainable Logistics Systems: A Conceptual Paper

Copyright: © 2021 |Pages: 8
DOI: 10.4018/IJCEWM.2021070105
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Abstract

Green logistics has much value for our societal development. The essential task is helping build a sustainable economy. Due to environmental impact economic activities bring and sustainable development and the requirement for logistics activities, the green logistics system must include green supply, green warehousing or distribution, green packaging, green transportation, the greening of sales logistics, remanufacturing of used products, and waste recycling. It is necessary to take corresponding countermeasures to build a scientific system for the development of green logistics, which is a necessity for modern logistics.
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1. Introduction

Green logistics refers to that the logistics damage to the environment is avoided during the logistics process, while the logistics efficiency is ensured. Meanwhile, the logistics environment is purified, and the logistics resources are fully utilized. From the perspective of logistics operations, green logistics includes green transportation, green packaging, and green circulation processing. The ultimate goal of green logistics is the sustainable development of the whole society. The criterion for achieving this goal is the reasonable unification of economic interests, social interests, and environmental interests.

1.1. Social Value

Green logistics first manifests itself as a concept of saving resources and protecting the environment. Green logistics brings enterprises great social value in two aspects: green logistics push the enterprise to the track of sustainable development, helps enterprises to establish a right corporate image and win public trust; green logistics enterprises are more likely to obtain some Certification of environmental standards, such as the IS014000 ecological management system, thus prevailing in the fierce market competition (Kudla and Klaas-Wissing, 2012). Furthermore, as economic support industry, it will promote and accelerate the greening speed of our economy, improving the environmental quality, so that people living in high-speed society will have a sustainable life (Khan and Zhang et al. 2019; Kuei et al. 2015).

1.2. Economic Value

Ecological economics believes that ecosystems are economically valuable. There is an inherent balance between ecosystems and economic systems. While green logistics is supporting them both, the economic value created by green logistics for enterprises is reflected in three aspects: First, green logistics is conducive to establishing a good corporate image, making it easier for enterprises to obtain the economic support of shareholders and other investors; second, enterprise,through the use of resources, like scientific planning of transportation and rational layout of warehousing, will greatly reduce logistics costs and expand profit margins for enterprises; thirdly, through building recycling logistics system for wasted products or remanufacturing industry, the materials need to purchase and energy consumption becomes less, which creates ecological value, meanwhile enhances the value of customer service, and obtains the competitive advantage of enterprises (Lai et al. 2013; Song et al. 2015).

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2. The Influence Of Logistics Operation On Environmental Sustainability

Logistics, as the “circulation process of goods from the place of supply to the receiving place,” is widely referred to as the “third source of profit” in our economy. However, the development of the logistics industry has also destroyed the living environment closely related to human beings. The main negative effects are as follows:

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