Management and Environmental Perspectives

Our cluster has an expertise in operations management, CLSCN design, and decision-making under uncertainty. Coordinated closed-loop supply chain networks (CLSCNs) present an innovative solution for managing, collecting, recycling, and re-manufacturing recycled plastic, because implementing and managing the efficient plastic recycling processes are usually beyond the capacity of a single company. This project will work in the design and development of multi-objective optimization models for the configuration of sustainable and resilient plastic CLSCNs. Also, this project aims to help our industry partners better manage the process of collecting, recycling, and re-manufacturing recycled plastics, which in turn leads to a reduced total cost. This research will be instrumental in diverting non-biodegradable items from landfills and waterways, because returned plastics may potentially contain toxic substances harmful to the environment (e.g., pollution of groundwater and acidification of soil). With our current industry partners, our cluster expects to engage further industries and communities within the next three years, so that they can collectively benefit from the optimization of procurement, production, and distribution processes, while the environment will benefit from reduced energy consumption and greenhouse gas emission from manufacturing.