Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
lyzers, by-pass filters, recycled wash water
and discharge into sanitary sewer systems.
•
Modal choice (rail versus truck):
many
companies are changing the ways they
transport their products. The switch from
trucks to trains or their combination (pig-
gyback transport) helps to reduce CO
2
emission levels while reducing transporta-
tion costs. The environmental efficiency
of rail is greater than that of trucking. The
American Trucking Association estimates
that trucks transport about 70% (10 billion
tons) of all U.S. freight annually, yet they
use at least three times as much energy as
trains per ton carried.
•
Reconditioning and reuse of pallets and
containers:
the reuse and reconditioning
of pallets and containers instead of replac-
ing and discarding them is one of the main
ways to reduce waste and protect natural
resources. Contamination reduction results
from using plastic instead of wood pallets
and by introducing a systematic program
of evaluation and reconditioning of pallets
and containers.
•
Load optimization:
this practice refers
to the optimization of space within deliv-
ery vehicles. One example is IKEA, the
Swedish furniture retailer, which integrates
this practice into its product design. IKEA
operates 39 logistics centers in 16 coun-
tries. The company prepares all packaging
and products with an eye toward optimal
utilization of space during transportation.
By using flat packs and transporting goods
whenever possible by rail and sea, IKEA
achieves its objectives of being cost-effec-
tive and environmentally friendly at the
same time.
•
Standardization of truck size and pallet-
ization:
standardization helps companies
to plan and optimize their freight. This is a
requirement for multimodal transportation
and although commonplace in developed
economies, it represents one of the main
hurdles in emerging markets. Usually in
such business environments, logistics op-
erators outsource transportation service to
networks of independent truck operators.
Adding to the resulting heterogeneity of
vehicles is the operating life of the trucks,
which often exceeds 40 years. Under such
circumstances, it is difficult to standardize
an entire fleet.
•
Sustainable carrier selection:
when trans-
portation services are outsourced, one way
of assuring the greening of this service is
to include environmental friendliness and
sustainability criteria in the supplier evalu-
ation and selection processes.
In addition to these activities, the following
may also prove beneficial:
•
Freight consolidation:
instead of each
store receiving products from each sup-
plier, the creation of distribution centers
(DC) allows companies to reduce delivery
trips. Suppliers transport the products for
a group of sales points to the DC, where
classification, organization and distribu-
tion of products for the different stores
takes place. Delivery to the stores requires
a small number of trucks. Mercadona, the
biggest supermarket chain in Spain, in-
troduced this practice in its operation and
by 2010 it had had created several DCs to
consolidate its freight operations.
Most green logistics activities in transportation
generate cost reductions. This is contrary to the
traditional perception, in which managers assume
a tradeoff between green logistics and operating
costs, not considering the complementary relation-
ship of these objectives in the above examples.
Table 2 summarizes the practices found in
