Resumen de Reverse Logistics Causes and Treatment Alternatives

Pascual Cortés Pellicer, Faustino Alarcón Valero

• Reverse logistics (RL) has experienced significant growth in recent years due to legislation that favors the reduction of environmental impact and the prolongation of product life. These laws pursue environment conservation through actions that favor the reuse of materials. The increase in the severity of this type of legislation, as well as the exponential growth in e-commerce sales, has meant that many companies integrate RL processes into their supply chain (SC). These actions have converted the corresponding activities to RL management in key aspects for the competitiveness of businesses. Once the RL process is initiated, one of the key decisions is to determine what is done with each product. This paper proposes a study of the causes that activate the RL process and an analysis of the different treatment options, with the intention of relating both aspects through a process of standardized decision-making, which allows the decision-maker to adopt the best choice regarding the treatment to be chosen.