Challenges of Implementing Reverse Logistics in Ensuring Circular Economy Goals

Abstract

Our planet is struggling to provide the necessary natural resources for about 8 billion people, and our Earth's important ecosystems are on the verge of collapse. In 2015, the Department of Economic and Social Affairs of the United Nations presented in its annual report that worldwide, as population increases, the need for land, food, and important natural resources in 2030 will be twice as high as the same needs in 2010. The developing world economy contributes to a large extent to the destruction of the Earth's resources. Most companies still tend to operate on the basis of a linear take-make-dispose economic model. Meanwhile, the principles of circular economy not only encourage the reduction or elimination of waste and pollution, maximizing the efficiency of the use of products and materials, but also promote the natural regeneration of systems [4]. Researchers believe that one of the most difficult parts of the circular economy is reverse logistics, where the hardest part is managing the collection of waste from consumers to capture value and convert materials back into resources. The focus of this article is on the role of reverse logistics in the circular economy and closed-loop supply chains. The purpose of this article is to reveal the importance of reverse logistics and the most important challenges in ensuring the implementation of the principles of circular economy.