Supporting circular economy in healthcare through digital reverse logistics

The design of an efficient supply chain system is key to successful circular economy practices. The forward logistics has been well developed through time whereas reverse logistics is still progressing especially in the healthcare sector. Facilitating reverse logistics through Industry 4.0 technologies play a critical role to close the material and energy supply chain loop. In this paper, we investigated the role of reverse logistics to facilitate the circular economy in the healthcare sector and the implication of Industry 4.0 digital technologies on reverse logistics to support the circular economy. A system dynamics modelling approach is applied in this research to analyse the causal links between different elements of reverse logistics in the healthcare sector. A causal loop diagram (CLD) with four reinforcing and one balancing loop is developed as a conceptual model. The CLD has captured the critical role of reverse logistics in the implementation of circular economy and the enabling role of digital technology (artificial intelligence, internet of things and big data analysis) to drive the collection, sorting, treatment and recovery processes of reverse logistics.