We are surprised when we see stronger storms than before; droughts, hurricanes, forest fires, earthquakes, melting ice at the poles… and we question ourselves.
Why is there more pollution, why are more trees cut down than before? we have exceeded animal extinction 1,000 times the normal rate, it is predicted that within 10 to
100 years the animals that appear in children's books are extinct. We need to recognize, before it is too late, that the real crisis is not global warming or the destruction of the environment or animal agriculture, we have to recognize that it is us, these problems are our symptoms. The waste that goes to the seas and floods our cities is our waste, do we forget, perhaps, the perfection of Mother Nature? cut down trees faster, produce more and faster, have more and grow more, is that what we call progress? (Richard Williams, 2016)
Problematic
Ray Anderson (2009) assures that the only culprit of the mistreatment of the land, the culprit of the abuse of its resources and the deterioration of the biosphere is commerce and industry. It is easy to see that we all contribute to this impact in different ways, we want more and we need more. Young generations worry less and less about the damage we cause to the place that nourishes us with life, and we must be aware that it is a real problem that many of us ignore.
Companies ignored for a long time what the future of their products would be once their useful life ended; Like us consumers, we are unaware that recklessly discarding a product would have an environmental impact that would eventually cause us problems. The well-being and conservation of natural resources is of increasing concern; It is becoming increasingly clear that we are causing problems that are more difficult to solve and that we lack vital resources. And I wonder, are we stealing their future from our children? To our future generations?
Definition
The idea of reverse logistics is conceived with the concept that the industry has so well developed the process of: obtaining, manufacturing and disposing; that ignores what happens next. A clearer concept than the water that they dirty with the activities they carry out every day. This industry has been in charge of looting land as deeply as technology has allowed, transforming those resources and later, we, converting them into waste, generating a worrying environmental impact. Ray Anderson (2009) manages to define the environmental impact with the equation of Paul and Anne Ehrlich (1980) where: the impact (something bad), is the multiplication of population, influx and technology. The impact is generated by people, what people consume is their influx and how it is produced.The same author says that population and influx are quantifiable variables, unlike technology that due to the abuse that exists there are too many ways to quantify it. Therefore, the equation is somewhat conceptual.
So to define reverse logistics, supported by the definition of, Díaz, A., Álvarez, MJ, & González, P. (2004), where they say that it is the process of planning, development and efficient control of the flow of materials, products and information from the place of origin to the place of consumption, so that consumer needs are met, recovering the waste obtained and managing it so that it can be reintroduced into the supply chain, obtaining added value and / or achieving an adequate elimination of it; It is necessary to recognize that we have reached a point where the waste of some is the treasure of others and that it should not only be seen as an opportunity to satisfy the needs of people, but also,a point of reference to know that we are doing the wrong things and that we are trying to change the direction we are taking this planet.
Social responsability
We have a big design problem, as the architect William McDonough (2005) says, we saw in a culture where we put a warning label on a toy that says: “this product contains chemicals known to cause cancer and birth problems or other reproductive harm ”; and we sell it to the children. And worst of all, when we consider that this product has fulfilled its function, and we call it a product that "no longer works", it is thrown away.
Richard Williams (2016) gives us a perspective by making an analogy of time, where he begins by saying: “the planet earth is 4.5 billion years old, humanity around 140,000 years, if we condense the useful life of the earth into 24 hours that it has one day, how long would our stay on earth represent? only 3 seconds ". Three seconds that represent what we have achieved as human beings. and there is no doubt that we managed to do great things, technological advances, new discoveries and endless inventions that have allowed us to leave the planet, but also, we have taken care of disappearing species that were born with us, of ending large forests, of filling with toxic gases our cities, to poison our waters, to destroy the places where other species live, in just 3 seconds.
There is no doubt, we have done a great job, there are still people who care about the care of the place where they live and the inheritance that they will leave to their children. Among many people I consider the architect Michael Reynolds (The Garbage Warrior) as a great exponent of this thought. I can't say if this architect is clear about the concept of what reverse logistics is, but he has managed to design in a place far from everything, where there are no accessible resources; where extreme conditions, strong and long winters, and hot and intense summers are experienced; where there is no gas, electricity, or water, what's more, there are no pipes; a deserted and desolate place. A place that has been nurtured with his thought and philosophy, "you need to make mistakes to learn."This architect designed a series of houses called "Earthships" (land ships), which function independently of any public service that occurs to us that requires a house; They do not need water pipes connected from the street to the house, nor cables that supply electricity to the house systems, they do not need heating or air conditioning, moreover, for their construction it did not require moving huge amounts of earth and materials. I take advantage of every available resource where I was and I use other people's waste to build these houses. The homes are designed to take advantage of every natural resource that the planet offers us in every place where we stand, whether it be sunlight, wind, water and land. Its facades are oriented to receive solar incidence,on elements made with tires to create a thermal mass system, in the different seasons of the year; It has also created a system for the collection and purification of rainwater, gray and black. The houses are powered by solar energy and wind turbines. The materials for its construction, as I already mentioned, have been garbage; cans, glass bottles, plastic, tires, dirt, stones, wood…
Basically I manage to reincorporate all the resources that it discards and that we discard to the supply chain of a house, since it has also used our garbage, a way that everything is used to satisfy the needs of the house. Elements that surprise me, the basics that are like the heat of the sun and daylight to be able to satisfy not only basic needs, according to Maslow says, since they have managed to attract other people from all over the planet and have managed to live in society, and they have achieved self-realization by seeing a home built by them that satisfies their needs in this way.
But it really is not the work of just one person, those who care so much about caring for the environment are not fans, it is a problem in which we are all involved. It is a problem of which we have been the cause, but we can also be part of the solution, as shown in the case of Michael, as many more people have managed to contribute ideas that strengthen this process in organizations and in the lives of many people giving beneficial results in different social contexts.
Environmental impact and ecological footprint
The objective of the environmental impact assessment is to prevent deterioration situations, establishing the most appropriate measures to bring the impacts derived from human actions to acceptable levels and protect the quality of the environment. (Espinoza, 2002) and as previously tried to define the environmental impact has to do with technological advance, population growth and their influx. We can see that in less than 10 years we have increased from 6 billion people to almost 7.5 billion people, and the number continues to rise. There is talk that currently we would need 1.5 to 2 more planets so that the number of people who currently inhabit this planet could live without problems (“Humanity needs 1.5 planets to satisfy its demand for resources”, 2014).The demands for resources have grown 50% more and we can realize that we have developed technology that helps us cut trees, extract minerals, produce gases, build… faster than nature can replace, compensate and grow. It is an alarming development, and it is happening right now.
People's awareness of the impact that each of us generates on the environment can be mediated by how large our ecological footprint is; and not only from people, but also from organizations.
The ecological footprint is basically the calculation of the requirements that man has of nature (Badii, MH, 2008). The ecological footprint of a population is equivalent to the biologically productive area required to produce the resources used and absorb the waste generated by that population (Wackernagel, 1996, Wackernagel et al., 1999, Crotscheck & Narodoslawsky, 1996). That is, as a human being you consume resources that nature offers you, such amount of resources that you occupy are reproduced and created in a certain distributed area on the planet, which works together with multiple simultaneous processes for you, to be able to supply you and meet your demand of needs. Now, people still produce waste and the earth also needs food to feed itself,our breath feeds the trees with carbon dioxide, our natural waste is decomposed and serves as compost for the land and food for other animals. The surface that occupies a certain area that nourishes us with life and nutrients is what can be called the ecological footprint, and right here the natural effect of reverse logistics can be visualized.
We all generate an impact and we all have our ecological footprint, the simple act of breathing has an environmental impact. How big? if we speak as an individual it is not enough, but if we speak of societies, in a society that does not stop growing, it can be something alarming.
Reverse logistics
After understanding that a chaotic situation has been living on the planet, where the human being has been a participant not only as an individual, but also as an organization where the unconsciousness of their actions has devastated territories, species, societies, and even the same human being. The need to find a solution to all these problems can be understood, and the idea of reverse logistics is conceived. If we reflect we can realize that this thought is implicit in a natural way on the planet, but we have ignored it to such a degree that we need to re-conceptualize this idea so that it can be applicable in organizations. To such a degree that an organization has to be aware that its products, at some point in their life, will be discarded and will generate an impact that can be irreversible.
Some organizations have managed to create a change of mind regarding the way in which they work and how resources are obtained; This can be reflected not only in your products, but also in your employees and customers. Companies like Apple have designed strategies that allow customers to return used equipment, for example cell phones, in exchange for the new models that come on the market year after year, obviously they charge for new developments in new equipment, but this avoids that old equipment is thrown away and turned into electronic waste that will have a great ecological impact. This organization carried out a process which not only benefits the environment, but also benefits its economy, uses the motto of "in a world with unlimited resources, some can be replanted", because that is basically it,It is not about throwing and discarding, it is about "recycling" and "reusing". It is about evaluating what you are doing and what impact you will have and if your impact is good, maximize it, but if your impact hurts others, try to minimize it.
Competitive advantage and differentiation.
I don't think this thinking should be treated just as a new way to make more money and say that you are a more competitive organization. Internal logistics activities go from the moment the product is designed. Vellojín, L., Meza, J., & Maya, R. (2006), these authors handle three basic types of competitive advantage:
- Cost leadership. That is when the product maintains the lowest prices and maintains a quality equal to or superior to that of the competition. Differentiation. It is an aspect that makes the product special which makes it attractive to the market. Focus on niche. When the company seeks to satisfy the needs of a particular group in the market, which has characteristics different from those of the others.
It is clear that reverse logistics does not specialize in any of these three types, it is more like a mixed system, which combines all of them, and is conditioned on what the market says, does and, where appropriate, the conditions in which they are returned. their products.
An organization that manages to develop a complete study at this time, which fully encompasses the concept of reverse logistics for the satisfaction of its customers, taking responsibility for the care of the environment, will truly be a different company from its competitors
Reframing the idea and trying to put it in context with an example. Ray Anderson CEO and founder of Interface, inc. is an example of applying these concepts of competitive advantage in your industrial processes to produce carpets. Interface has a goal, by 2020 to be a company that produces zero emissions to the environment. But the interesting thing is knowing what he has done. Ray Anderson realized he was abusing the earth's resources to produce his products in his factory, he says, that he felt guilty as if he was stealing the future from generations before him. After reading Paul Hawkings' book - The Ecology of Commerce, Ray felt guilty about abusing the consumption of oil for his products and decided to set a new course for his company. So,He set a goal he had to obtain from the earth only what could be renewed by the earth naturally and quickly; Also, see how your rugs could be reused and reincorporated as raw material in your supply chain and therefore not harm the environment.
I plant different variables in an equation that is defined at the beginning of this article. Variables that you decided to transform to create a new production system. These variables contemplate the substitution of resources for renewable energies for the operation of plants, for example solar energy. But the key point of his strategy was to allocate resources for the recycling of carpets that were in landfills, post-consumer recycling technologies. The use of these reused products has helped to minimize the acquisition of resources for the supply chain in your company. It really is a differentiation of the product from its competitors and a competitive advantage that is difficult to match,But we talk about the fact that this company has been working for more than 40 years and that as of 2004 was when it began to implement these new ideas. The objective of this company, as I already mentioned, is to achieve zero environmental impacts in the production of its materials by 2020 and to be a company that works with renewable energies.
Ray concludes by saying that their products are better designed and are a source of inspiration for innovation. That the economy of his company was not really affected by these new developments, instead, his profits increased, his products were better, and he proved that the choice between the environment and the economy is just a false myth.
V dvantages and disadvantages
We might think that there are many disadvantages of using recycled or reused materials to occupy them as raw materials and incorporate them back into supply chains, but after analyzing the example of Michael Reynolds and Ray Anderson, with the erathships and Interface, respectively, it is easy to see that the benefits outweigh the disadvantages. And with these examples, it can be visualized from two very different perspectives, from the basic thing that is to cover the needs of a home to the most complex that it is to take it to the production lines of a company from the point of view of reverse logistics.
We can say that Apple, for example, with the incorporation of Liam (2016), the robot that helps to disassemble the old iPhone. This innovation is its business model, since recycling phones becomes a key activity to source raw materials and Liam, is being a key resource for iPhone to carry out these activities, therefore, its value proposition is modified from a way in which this organization has a certain competitive advantage over those that do not carry out these processes; and it is clear that this is an advantage.
Critical points that can be visualized in the examples that have been used in this article, is the factor of uncertainty. The conditions in which the recycled resources are found are not known. It is not known where they come from or from whom, so it is somewhat risky to implement this type of technique or it requires a very well structured development to be able to do it with the least risk.
Therefore, the advantages of implementing reverse logistics in organizations are:
- If you know your product, we should have an idea of the applications it could have while it was on the market. So getting it back into the production chain shouldn't be that difficult. But we are subject to the fact that there is an infinite variety of users. It is a fact that due to the conditions experienced with global warming, a company that "recycles" its own products is viewed by users as a company in which you can trust since it is concerned about a problem of all. The information that you can obtain from the products, can be starting points for future innovations and developments in new models, thanks to the user experience. There is the possibility of covering new markets, which they are currently betting on green technologies.
Some disadvantages of the application of this logistics, which more than disadvantages are as critical points, such as Vellojín, L., Meza, J., & Maya, R. (2006) mention:
- Handling these products may not be so simple due to the conditions in which they can be found and the processes to salvage their components can be very varied and increase costs. As already mentioned, we are subject to uncertainty. It is necessary to define whether, the Operations for the manipulation of these resources will be made by the organization or some other organization will participate doing these activities.It is very important to be very specific in investigating each of the steps in the logistics of this new development because any movement of nature that Either it can be a minor or may impact within the organization.
From my point of view, I consider that it is not easy to implement strategies of this type, which require a deep analysis before being carried out, but that the benefits of using these strategies are greater.
Conclusions.
It is clear that we are experiencing a very serious situation on our planet, it is not something that is looming as many say, it is something that is happening right now. It is sad to see how there is less and less snow in the mountains, fewer rivers and clean seas, more polluted air. It is everyone's job, because we live on the same planet. I applaud the organizations that do the right thing to prevent our home from deteriorating further. I want to draw the attention of those who say they do something when they are really hurting more. And make aware those who have not yet done anything. I think we still have time to change course, and that this is an issue that provides enough information to make a change, it requires a lot of work on everyone's part. I am personally moved to know what Michael Reynolds is doing in the New Mexico desert,It motivates me to know that there are people who are concerned.
I don't think it is necessary to have to reinvent the planet as William McDonough (2005) said, as a designer, someone could give me the best solution and it would be, imagine, something that makes oxygen, sequesters carbon, fixes nitrogen, distills water, accumulates solar energy as fuel, produce complex sugars and food, create microclimates, change its colors with the seasons of the year and self-replicate… but why not better, so we tear it down and write about it?
References
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Vellojín, L., Meza, J., & Maya, R. (2006). Reverse Logistics: a tool to support the competitiveness of organizations. Engineering & Development. Universidad del Norte, 20, 184-202.
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