Reverse Logistics of Online Retailing Platforms

Reverse logistics plays a vital role in smart logistics distribution, with express packaging recycling as a common practice promoting resource efficiency and environmental sustainability. Considering this, an investigation was conducted to encourage consumer participation in recycling through two distinct policies for express packaging on an online retail platform with self-operated logistics for collecting packaging from consumers. The first policy is the Deposit-Refund Policy (DRP), where consumers pay a deposit upon purchase that is refunded if they return the packaging. The second policy is the Recycling Re1ward Policy (RRP), which offers rewards to consumers who return their express packaging. The platform must determine whether to implement recycling and, if feasible, choose the optimal recycling policy. An optimization model was developed to analyze both policies, using the No Recycling Policy (NRP) as a benchmark. Through comparative analysis and numerical studies, key managerial insights were derived. Findings indicate that consumer green consciousness significantly influences decision-making. Specifically, NRP is the best option when green consciousness is low. As awareness increases to a moderate level, recycling becomes viable, making RRP the optimal choice. DRP emerges as the most effective policy at high levels of green consciousness.