Integration and Centralization of Waste and GoodsManagement in Commercial Buildings : An investigation of the potential benefits regarding environmentalimpact and process efficiency.

Abstract: Nearly a decade ago, the waste management company Ragn-Sells expanded their core business to also include manned goods reception and internal logistics in commercial buildings. The incentive for the expansion came from the commercial building Gallerian, which during that time neither had manned goods reception nor centralized waste management, and offered Ragn-Sells to be in charge of combining these services. The service has since then spread to other commercial buildings in the Stockholm area but the progress have not been documented and followed up. The purpose with this study was to investigate the potential benefits, regarding process efficiency and environmental impact, that can be achieved when integrating and centralizing logistics and waste management operations in commercial buildings in Stockholm. The process was studied by investigating the service operated at Gallerian. Quantitative data was collected through structured observations while qualitative data was collected through observations and interviews with identified stakeholders. The data was used to model and simulate possible scenarios. The results show that the main benefit with the process is reduced queues, which further results in time savings and reduced emissions. When logistics and waste management are combined, the main identified benefit is the ability to streamline the process as the number of involved stakeholders is reduced. Key words: commercial building, waste management, goods reception, Lean, customer value, environmental objectives, city logistics