8.2.1: Green supply chain management

Week 8 Content

Section 8.1: The need for a green view to supply chain management

Section 8.2: Green supply chain management

8.2.1: Green supply chain management

8.2.2: Roadmap for green supply chain management (GrSCM)

8.2.3: Strategies for green supply chain management

Section 8.3: Reverse logistics management

Section 8.4: Life-cycle assessment for supply chain management

Section 8.5: Industrial symbiosis

Green supply chain management (GrSCM) is modeled on traditional supply chain management practices, but integrating environmental criteria and concerns into all organizational processes and decisions. A GrSCM aims to minimize wastes within a system to conserve energy and prevent the dissipation of dangerous materials into the environment. It recognizes the disproportionate environmental impact of supply chain processes to product outputs within a company’s operational processes. By integrating environmental thinking into supply chain management, these companies have the opportunity to optimize information and material flows within their value chains while minimizing costs. The diagram below illustrates a model of a green organizational supply chain.

Traditional and green supply chains differ in several ways. Traditional chains focus on economic objectives and values, while green chains consider ecological values alongside a company’s business objectives. When a traditional supply chain takes ecological standards into account, it is often limited in its scope. For example, traditional chains actively consider human toxicological impacts, while leaving out the impacts on the environment. They also often tend to focus more on the control of the final product, rather than on negative effects within the entire supply chain.