The Challenge of Implementing Reverse Logistics in Social Improvement: The Possibility of Expanding Sovereignty Food in Developing Communities

MARIELA BEATRIZ MALDONADO; SILVIA MOYA

Logistics: Perspectives, Approaches and Challenges

NOVA

Lugar: Nueva York; Año: 2013; p. 1 - 186

Hunger is a growing global phenomenon that needs access to more food and improved distribution capabilities. The developing countries, suffer the scourge of multicausal origin, whose main symptom is a logistical problem of distribution. So the UN has submitted a hunger map in order to act more effectively. And other agencies such as FAO study the subject permanently. Moreover, about a third of the food produced in the world annually for human consumption is lost or wasted. This also means the waste of non-renewable resources and loss of value in the supply chain, capital dissipation ultimately incompatible with sustainable development in today´s global community. Food Banks are entities that play the role of bridge between the companies that make the acquisition of food and people with dietary needs. These, redistribute food that is not marketable but still fit for consumption. As logistics is a discipline that involves mental and behavioral change perfectly adaptable and applicable to all activities of daily life, there is a growing need to implement comprehensive logistic models, involving the supply chains of companies. The flow of these must be planned intelligently and with such a strategy, which is the maximum utilization, resulting in the improvement of the environment, both from the point of view of waste and environmental impact as the food itself. The mechanisms of reverse logistics, applied within the Corporate Social Responsibility in the private field, could facilitate donations of products returned by customers for various reasons and these be leveraged to alleviate hunger. This implies a logistical ethics based challenge in solving problems such as hunger, because it is not enough to feed the population; we must nurture them properly, so that people realize their full potential to enable them to access to education, in pursuit of personal and social autonomy. Apply the concepts of reverse logistics, to social level, business, governmental and assistants organizations of socially disadvantaged, allows social improvement. A case of successful experience in the implementation of reverse logistics is the Food Bank of Mendoza, Argentina, which is presented as a case study.