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5
SUSTAINABLE ASPECTS OF LOGISTICS ACTIVITIES
When the World Commission on Environment and Development (Brundtland
Commission) published its report “Our Common Future” in 1987, it presented a new
concept – sustainable development [7]. The concept became one of the most successful
approaches to be introduced in many years. In fact, it helped to shape the international
agenda and the international community’s attitude towards economic, social and
environmental development. Sustainable development has been defined in many ways,
but the most frequently quoted definition comes from the Brundtland Report [7]:
“Sustainable development is development that meets the needs of the present
without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. It
contains within it two key concepts:
• The concept of needs, in particular the essential needs of the world’s poor, to
which overriding priority should be given.
• The idea of limitations imposed by the state of technology and social
organization on the environment’s ability to meet present and future needs.”
The Brundtland Report highlighted the three fundamental components of sustainable
development, the environment, the economy and society, and highlighted a number of
major proposals for sustainable development:
• Environment – we should conserve and enhance our resource base, by
gradually changing the ways in which we develop and use technologies.
• Economic growth – economic growth should be revived, and developing
nations should be allowed a growth of equal quality to the developed nations.
• Social equity – developing nations must be allowed to meet their basic needs
of employment, food, energy, water and sanitation. If this is to be done in
a sustainable manner, then there is a definite need for a sustainable level of
population.
Usually, the discussion on sustainable development has been focusing
on environmental aspects. In logistics, especially when dealing with packing,
transportation and storage, environmental aspects are of course the focus, but for a
deeper understanding, economic and social aspects must also be recognised.
When studying the ecological aspects of packing and storage, the first thing to
look at is demand for packing and storage derived from our material needs. Why do
we pack and store materials? The world is populated by over 7 billion human beings
with needs that must be satisfied. As we are living in a highly specialised production
system in which materials need to be transported even long distances for processing,
manufacturing, distribution and retailing.