Implementing "Sustainable Packaging Logistics". An analysis in liquid detergents

This paper presents the interest of implementing the "Sustainable Packaging Logistics" approach in order to improve efficiency and sustainability throughout the supply chain, thanks to the development of a study based on "Benchmarking" technique. After summarizing the main conceptual aspects of "Sustainable Packaging Logistics", the paper focuses on the analysis of a sample of 17 references of liquid detergent, adopting the methodology of multi-case study. The results of the study show an average level of unoccupied volume of 12.5% in the comparison between the liquid and the plastic bottle capacity. This unoccupied rate even reaches the 50.8% if it compares the liquid volume and the theoretical prism that fits the bottle. On the other hand, the results also show differences in the pallet efficiency up to 377 liters per pallet and 3,248 liters per truck. These results imply that there are different logistic and sustainable effects depending on the packaging solution; that means new opportunities for competitiveness improvement.