Interview one

Activities

The first set of codes involves the current reverse logistics activities that the company has adopted or is willing to adopt in the future. First, there are retrieving activities “The first thing is to take back the broken stamp from the customer and check if it can be reused.”

(Andreas) A1.1.

The next code is referring to the recycling activities that take place within the company.

Special emphasis was given to the recycling machine that helps them recycle one of the materials that is used in the manufacturing process “In addition to this, we invested in a machine which is used to recycle the solvent (Unisol) used in the manufacturing process.

This machine provides us with 90% reusable resources (solvent) and the rest is a residue which is almost useless.” (Andreas) A1.2. Similarly, “There is a liquid waste which as I said is being recycled and becomes 90% new solvent and 10% gel which is completely useless for us.” (Andreas) A1.3.

In addition to this, there is a recycling process that happens outside of the company and is referring to gel that previously mentioned “I stock it in barrels, and I call the recycling company to come and collect it.” (Andreas) A1.4. Finally, the company follows green practices for the paper products “It is produced under all environmental principles and green methods and of course I know my supplier’s.” (Andreas) A1.5.

Barriers

The second set of codes is referring to the problems and the barriers that the company faces with their current procedures or may face during the implementation of new reverse logistics activities. The largest group of barriers that was extracted by the interview was of technological nature. First, the lack of equipment “We don’t have the necessary machinery and processes to recycle paper ourselves.” (Andreas) TECHbar1.1.

Second, the manufacturing process itself raises a barrier against the reusability of their products “Last, the manufacturing process itself (light exposure, acid submerging)

68 sometimes is enough to ruin the reusability of the final product.” (Andreas) TECHbar1.2.

Moreover, the nature of the material requires special handling processes “A material like this needs to be kept in a dark place as it is a photopolymer. The light is stabilizing the surface and sets the material difficult to process.” (Andreas) TECHbar1.3.

There is an absence of systems that can provide information about product location “First, it is difficult to track them” (Andreas) TECHbar1.4. Moreover, the lack of tracking systems over end of life products “No, it is extremely difficult to have this information.

Hopefully, they end up in a recycling center.” (Andreas) TECHbar1.5.

Finally, there are two barriers referring to the nature of the material which renders the returnable product useless “Most of the times it is useless but there are some cases that the plate can be scraped, re-engraved and remanufactured into a new one.” (Andreas) TECHbar1.6. Even if the material does not fail it will regain a severely reduced life span and reduced quality “The new stamp might have a reduced life span because it now has half the size.” TECHbar1.7. Lastly, the utilization of the products is also a barrier

“Moreover, this plate as I said is used for printing and therefore operates under extreme pressure. As a result, the material brakes and the integrity of the stamp fails.” (Andreas) TECHbar1.8.

The next group of barriers that impede reverse logistics implementation involves the governmental and legislation barriers. There is obviously a lack of governmental support

“However, an investment like this is not feasible without the support of the country and the industry.” (Andreas) GOVbar1.1. Additionally, there is lack of a fertile economic environment “Exactly, in my opinion ideas like reverse logistics are difficult to materialize in an environment like Greece due to lack of legislation and financial support” (Andreas) GOVbar1.2. The previous barrier is illustrated once again “Honestly, Greece is like a big impressible baby which is in need of innovative ideas, strong minds and investments to get things going” (Andreas) GOVbar1.3.

After, there are identified two infrastructural barriers. The first barrier refers to the lack of infrastructure that facilitates reverse flows of goods “This can only be created by the scrap paper that comes as a waste from bag production which is not compared to the volume of production. I think that it is impossible to redirect used bags back to my facilities due to several reasons” (Andreas) INFRbar1.1.

69 More intensively, Andreas mentions the following “Finally, I don’t see any possible way to create this reverse flow as paper bags can easily be damaged and disposed of. Nobody has in mind to keep it and send it back as it is a cheap and low value good.” (Andreas) INFRbar1.2. The last barrier can be categorized as a market or customer barrier. However, for simplicity it is categorized as infrastructural as it is very close to this category as well.

The fourth category is referring to barriers that are related with the lack of collaboration and support by the other actors of the supply chain. Specifically, there is a lack of a rewarding system for recycling waste “Nothing. They just give me a certificate that I am not polluting the environment and I am treating my waste in the right way” (Andreas) COLbar1.1. Moreover, there is lack of cooperation from customers who do not pay the appropriate attention and do not follow the instructions given “There can be many reasons.

The most frequent is that the customers did not maintain it correctly” (Andreas) COLbar1.2.

Surprisingly, financial barriers appeared only once “we have to invest in a third party to collect those bags for us” (Andreas) FINbar1.1 but they are closely related with the governmental barriers. Last but not least, it is mentioned that societies lack education over reverse logistics “We must have more information and more education on this topic as a society” (Andreas) SOCbar1.1.

The interviewee states difficulties in adopting new practices due to the time and resources requirements “even if we had the resources to invest, it would add new processes that would take us time to get used to” (Andreas) ORGbar1.1. Last, there is one more organizational barrier identified which refers to the difficulty of understanding the benefits of reverse logistics “I also see difficulties in implementation because of facilities, education. The most important obstacle is that the benefits and the profits of those practices and models are almost invisible.” (Andreas) ORGbar1.2

Benefits

The last group of codes involves the benefits of the reverse logistics practices that are perceived by the company as drivers. The benefits mentioned are mostly financial. First, reverse logistics activities are considered as cost reduction processes “It will significantly

70 reduce my production cost” (Andreas) FINben1.1. Moreover, Andreas mentioned that reverse logistics can reduce the resources required for manufacturing “ In other words, it will save energy, time, and resources” (Andreas) FINben1.2.

In addition, some obscure benefits are extracted. The first one is of financial nature and refers to the extended lifespan of a company's product in case they adopt a new technology in their manufacturing process “Implementing a technology like this will raise the number of the reusable stamps and extend their lifespan for one more use. As far as I know there is nothing you can do to keep a photopolymer forever.” (Andreas) FINben1.3.

Nevertheless, there are also environmental benefits perceived “I can see environmental and financial benefits” (Andreas) ENVben1.1.