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

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). / 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. / by Joshua Ng and Kendall Chow. / M.Eng.in Logistics

Identiferoai:union.ndltd.org:MIT/oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/61184
Date January 2010
CreatorsNg, Joshua (Zi Jie Joshua), Chow, Kendall
ContributorsEdgar Blanco., Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Engineering Systems Division., Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Engineering Systems Division.
PublisherMassachusetts Institute of Technology
Source SetsM.I.T. Theses and Dissertation
LanguageEnglish
Detected LanguageEnglish
TypeThesis
Format148 p., application/pdf
RightsM.I.T. theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission., http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582

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