Analysis of Green Logistics Issues and Solutions at Coles Supply Chain

This report provides an analysis of the green logistics issues faced by Coles, a major Australian supermarket chain. It begins by outlining the importance of green logistics in supply chain management, emphasizing its role in meeting customer demands and ensuring sustainability. The report identifies key problems, including the environmental, societal, and economic impacts of incidents like a truck fire in Melbourne. The study examines the ecological impact due to emissions and resource wastage, the societal impact on public safety, and the economic impact of financial losses. It then details the solutions implemented by Coles, such as investigating incidents, dissolving the fire department, adopting recycling facilities, aiming to reduce emissions, and using technological innovations. The report also discusses Coles' efforts to improve road safety, enhance packaging, and engage in corporate social responsibility activities to reduce its environmental footprint. The conclusion summarizes the importance of addressing green logistics challenges and the steps Coles has taken to mitigate its impact.

Running head: COLES SUPPLY CHAIN
COLES SUPPLY CHAIN
Name of Student
Name of the University
Author Note

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Executive Summary
The main aim of the reports is to identify the major green logistical issues faced by Coles and
to identify the solution strategy of the same. Logistics is an important part of the supply chain
management and having green logistics can help the company in meeting the demands of the
customers and becoming sustainable. The study highlighted the major problems of the
company due to its negative impact on the society, environment and economic. It also
highlights the steps taken by the company to overcome the same.

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Table of Contents
Introduction................................................................................................................................3
Logistics issues at Coles.............................................................................................................3
Solution of the logistics issues...................................................................................................4
Conclusion..................................................................................................................................5
References..................................................................................................................................6

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Introduction
Logistics is a very important part of the supply chain because logistics helps in
connecting the organizations, manufacturers with the end consumers or the customers. Green
logistics has a wider scope and includes environment into its consideration. Therefore green
logistics aims at reducing the impact on the economy, the society and the environment. Coles
is one of the biggest supermarkets of Australia that provides goods to the customers using it’s
the consumers supply chain (Coles.com.au. 2019). Coles is facing many problems related to
green logistics such as the huge amount of smoke was emitted by the company’s truck during
a fire breakout, there was wastage of resources during the incident, the Melbourne incident
had put the life of the driver and the general public in threat. The safety of the driver and the
general public was affected due to rupture of fuel tank. The main objective of this report is to
identify the major green logistics problems faced by the company and the strategies the
company is implementing to solve those logistics issues.
Logistics issues at Coles
Green logistics covers reducing impact on three major areas: the ecological impact,
the societal impact and the economic impact (Piecyk et al. 2015). Coles Supply chain has
recently suffered from a major incident of its truck catching fire in Melbourne where the
truck was carrying out outbound activities. Another major ecological impact was seen
because of the huge amounts of flames and smokes that was emitted by the truck during the
fire. The truck supposedly caught fire during the emergency lane. It caused air pollution and
affected the environment negatively. Coles has negatively impacted the environment because
the company wasted resources in terms of fuel and the goods that the truck was carrying
during its outbound activity (Supplierportal.coles.com.au 2019). Another major problem of
the company was that it affected the society in a negative away because the lives of many

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people along with the driver was put to danger due to the road accident. In fact the accident
caused delay to the other vehicles on the road and has resulted in traffic. The economic
impact of the incident was that there was financial loss in terms of the goods that 1got burnt
that was carried by the truck (7NEWS.com.au. 2019).
Solution of the logistics issues
The company has investigated into the case to find out the main reasons for such an
accident and as a result they have decided for dissolving its fire department because of their
irresponsibility in dealing with the fire incidents (Heraldsun.com.au. 2019). Therefore the
company have achieved 90% of its objectives to avoid these incidents in future. The company
also tries to reduce its impact on the society through recycling facilities and uses green bags
that can be reused. The company is aiming to reduce its emissions by 30%. The company is
suing technological innovations to reduce its air pollution. In order to overcome the economic
problems caused by the incident, Coles aims at providing employment opportunities in its
supply chain and the company has been able to achieve about 50% of its objectives . In order
to maintain proper relationships with the society and becoming sustainable the company is
entering into partnership with Aussie farmers such that these people can be benefitted
through proper prices for their produce (Coles.com.au. 2019). The company has implemented
policies regarding the safety of the drivers and for maintaining safety in roads. The company
has recently signed an agreement on improving transportation safety. Therefore the company
has achieved about 60% of its objectives of road safety. The company is also aiming to
reduce the risk of the goods being transported through proper packaging facilities so that the
impact of loss due to fire can be reduced. The company has undertaken many CSR activities
to reduce their impact on the ecology by promoting green farming to reduce the climatic
changes caused by the company. The company is ensuring the same by producing foods in a

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naturally processed. Therefore it can be said that the company has achieved about 70% of its
goal of becoming ecologically friendly through its CSR cativities.
Conclusion
From the above discussion it can be concluded that organizations face many issues
relating to green logistics. The way the company deals with these issues is important. Coles
recently faced a major fire incident in Melbourne and issues related to its wastage of
materials but the company has taken a number of activities to overcome its impact.

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References
7NEWS.com.au. 2019. Coles truck catches fire on Melbourne freeway. [online] Available at:
https://7news.com.au/news/coles-truck-catches-fire-on-melbourne-freeway-c-89781
[Accessed 17 May 2019].
Coles.com.au. 2019. Coles Supermarkets. [online] Available at: https://www.coles.com.au/
[Accessed 19 May 2019].
Coles.com.au. 2019. Supporting Aussie farmers. [online] Available at:
https://www.coles.com.au/corporate-responsibility/supporting-aussie-farmers [Accessed 19
May 2019].
Heraldsun.com.au. 2019. Heraldsun.com.au | Subscribe to the Herald Sun for exclusive
stories. [online] Available at: https://www.heraldsun.com.au/subscribe/news/1/?
sourceCode=HSWEB_WRE170_a_GGL&dest=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.heraldsun.com.au
%2Fnews%2Fvictoria%2Fring-road-delays-after-truck-blaze%2Fnews-story
%2F3b72e8c693c4d1459ef02e953d507084&memtype=anonymous&mode=premium&v21su
ffix=51-a [Accessed 19 May 2019].
Piecyk, M., Browne, M., Whiteing, A. and McKinnon, A. eds., 2015. Green logistics:
Improving the environmental sustainability of logistics. Kogan Page Publishers.
Supplierportal.coles.com.au. 2019. [online] Available at:
https://www.supplierportal.coles.com.au/csp/wps/wcm/connect/b3a293804efaae1f8c6cdea6e
b652d39/Coles+Supply+Standards_August+2016_iOS+Optimised+v10.pdf?
MOD=AJPERES&CACHEID=b3a293804efaae1f8c6cdea6eb652d39 [Accessed 17 May
2019].