Reverse Logistics and Waste Recovery in Aviation, Petroleum, and Construction Supply Chains

Unofficial AI-generated summary based on the public title and abstract. Not an official translation.

🔬研究者:Highlights enablers (IoT, blockchain, AI) and barriers to reverse logistics implementation in capital-intensive industries, providing a foundation for further empirical studies.

🏢実務担当者:Offers concrete cost reduction (15-40%) and material recovery examples that can inform supply chain redesign and technology adoption decisions.

🏛政策担当者:Emphasizes the need for regulatory harmonization, extended producer responsibility, and investment in digital infrastructure to scale waste valorisation.

Background: The emergence of waste recovery and reverse logistics are key methods towards sustainability in high impact industrial sectors. Aviation, petroleum and construction generate 4.2 billion tons of waste/year combined while still largely relying on linear supply chains: this has led to extensive environmental degradation, resource inefficiencies, and increased regulatory pressure. This research aims to understand the role of reverse logistics in moving these three sectors to circular economy practices. Methods: Using a systematic literature review, data were collected from peer-reviewed journal articles, technical reports and industry/analyses published from 2010-2024 and analyzed for their impact on the waste generation patterns; ways to recover/recycle products and how reverse logistics networks are designed/implemented by each industry sector. Investigating the technological enablers and structural barriers that exist in order to assess how they might affect implementation was also of interest in this research. Findings: This research demonstrates that implementing reverse logistics systems produces measurable financial and ecological advantages. The costs of waste disposal were reduced by 15% to 40%, as evidenced by actual case quotes. The recovery and reintegration into production cycles of valuable materials such as aluminium alloys, vanadium catalysts and recycled concrete aggregate also occurred. The data also revealed a significant decrease in greenhouse gas emissions. Key enablers of these systems were found to be the use of IoT technologies for real-time monitoring, blockchain systems for traceability of materials and AI for waste forecasting and decision making. Nevertheless, challenges remain, including fragmented regulatory frameworks, high capital costs and inadequate third-party logistics infrastructure. Implications: The study highlighted the need to incorporate reverse logistics within the strategic design of supply chains in order to facilitate the transition to a circular economy in capital-intensive industries (e.g., automotive, aerospace, heavy machinery). Future development will be reliant on harmonization of regulatory policy, increased investment in digital infrastructure, and collaborative cross-sectoral logistics networks. Managerial initiatives such as extending the producer's responsibilities (EPR), proactively redesigning the supply chain and transferring knowledge between industries will be critical to scaling waste valorisation practices. Thus, reverse logistics can serve as an effective means of improving environmental sustainability and economic performance in industrial ecosystems.

• semanticscholar https://doi.org/10.54660/.ijmrge.2026.7.2.628-636first seen 2026-07-15 05:55:01