Environmental Impact of the Supply Base From a corporate perspective , some companies have attempted to address environmental issues through the supply chain. Their work concentrates on the up-stream part of the supply chain,i.e.,the suppliers. Both BT and B&Q have achieved a considerable amount in this field. BT have had a vendor assessment scheme incorporating environmental purchasing policy for over 4 years. B&Q use both questionnaires and auditors to track environmental issues in their supplier base and have decided that this approach is preferable to requiring environment management system implementation [14]. However, neither of these companies, nor any others ,consider environmental management principles into their supply chain organization. Lamming and Hampson [15] mention that "environmental pressures may be expected to increase in the future ," they suggest that "an effective means of dealing with them must be implemented through the purchasing function." Their paper concentrates on the supplier base of a company as the focus for supply chain environmental performance , but environmental performance criteria must be applied to the entire supply chain function to encompass the whole, not just the up-stream effects. Other organizations have focused on the opposite end of the supply chain with recycling issues. Equipment is returned from the customers of companies such as IBM, Nokia,BMW and Rank Xerox [16]. These companies either recondition the old equipment or reclaim the materials, reprocessing them into raw material. However , it appears that little work is being carried out into how to evaluate decisions concerning supply chain operations. The logistics discipline is well qualified to deal with cradle to grave issues because of logistics focus on supply chain management , which emphasizes the control of materials from suppliers, through value added processes and on to the customer. The interface between logistics and the environment is embedded in the value adding functions a firm performs [17]. As Wu and Dunn [18] quite rightly point out "to minimize total environmental impact , it must be evaluated from the total system perspective."
From a corporate perspective , some companies have attempted to address environmental issues through the supply chain. Their work concentrates on the up-stream part of the supply chain,i.e.,the suppliers. Both BT and B&Q have achieved a considerable amount in this field. BT have had a vendor assessment scheme incorporating environmental purchasing policy for over 4 years. B&Q use both questionnaires and auditors to track environmental issues in their supplier base and have decided that this approach is preferable to requiring environment management system implementation [14]. However, neither of these companies, nor any others ,consider environmental management principles into their supply chain organization. Lamming and Hampson [15] mention that "environmental pressures may be expected to increase in the future ," they suggest that "an effective means of dealing with them must be implemented through the purchasing function." Their paper concentrates on the supplier base of a company as the focus for supply chain environmental performance , but environmental performance criteria must be applied to the entire supply chain function to encompass the whole, not just the up-stream effects. Other organizations have focused on the opposite end of the supply chain with recycling issues. Equipment is returned from the customers of companies such as IBM, Nokia,BMW and Rank Xerox [16]. These companies either recondition the old equipment or reclaim the materials, reprocessing them into raw material. However , it appears that little work is being carried out into how to evaluate decisions concerning supply chain operations. The logistics discipline is well qualified to deal with cradle to grave issues because of logistics focus on supply chain management , which emphasizes the control of materials from suppliers, through value added processes and on to the customer. The interface between logistics and the environment is embedded in the value adding functions a firm performs [17]. As Wu and Dunn [18] quite rightly point out "to minimize total environmental impact , it must be evaluated from the total system perspective."
