Reducing the extraction of minerals: Reverse logistics in the machinery manufacturing industry sector in Brazil using ISM approach

Mass consumption and shortening product lifecycles have increased worldwide production. Consequently, more raw materials such as minerals are used, and available landfills are filling up. Companies are urged to effectively incorporate sustainability issues such as End-of-life (EOL) management and Reverse Logistics (RL) practices to close the loop and diminish the amount of raw materials used in their production systems. However, implementing RL implies dealing with its barriers. The purpose of this article is to focus on the recovery of EOL products that use mostly raw materials from the mining and minerals industry by identifying and analyzing the interactions among the barriers that hinder RL development in Brazil. First, international peer-reviewed publications were considered to select the barriers and classify them into categories. In a second moment, an empirical research was conducted using the Multi-Criteria Decision Making (MCDM) tool named Interpretive Structural Modeling (ISM) to evaluate the relationship between the barrier categories. Logistics experts from machinery manufacturing industry sector in Brazil were consulted. The greater influence on all barrier categories is Policy related issues barrier category, which means that the lack of specific laws and lack of motivational legislation are still significant impediments to RL implementation in Brazil.