Examining barriers to reverse logistics practices in the leather footwear industry

Reverse logistics (RL) is gradually becoming more important to manufacturing companies through environmental awareness, competitiveness, and environmental regulations. In the leather footwear industry of Bangladesh, it is possible to recycle and reuse waste, meaning a reverse logistics system could increase return-on-investment and give a competitive advantage. To date, studies on barriers to RL implementation have been conducted in other countries and in other domains, leaving a research gap in RL barrier analyses in the leather footwear industry. There are many obstacles to implementing RL in a developing country like Bangladesh; examining these barriers is a crucial research issue. This paper identifies RL barriers through (1) an extent literature review, (2) advice from Bangladeshi industry experts under the Delphi study, and (3) ranking RL barriers using the fuzzy analytical hierarchy process. The results indicate that, of the barriers investigated, the ‘knowledge and support’ category seems to be most critical. A lack of interest and support from top-level management—related to ‘knowledge and support’ issues—appears to be the major obstacle for RL implementation in the Bangladeshi leather footwear industry. These findings will help the Bangladeshi leather footwear industry, as well as other industries in Bangladesh, to understand the nature of each barrier and overcome the complexity of RL implementation in supply chains. This study will also assist decision-makers in making certain strategic policies. Future studies may contribute to the life cycle assessment and engineering of recycled and reused footwear.