3055. Leveraging Corporate Social Responsibility to Enhance Circular Fashion: Optimization of Charitable Collection Channels for Sustainability
Invited abstract in session WB-47: Empirically Driven OR in Retail, stream Retail Operations.
Wednesday, 10:30-12:00Room: Parkinson B08
Authors (first author is the speaker)
| 1. | Marjan Olfati
|
| Brunel Business School, Brunel University London | |
| 2. | Afshin Mansouri
|
| Brunel Business School, Brunel University London |
Abstract
Fast fashion, while making clothing affordable, shortens product lifecycles, increases used-clothing volumes, and poses a critical environmental challenge. Informed by a systematic literature review and motivated by stakeholder interviews from the post-consumption clothing supply network, we develop a preliminary MINLP model for facility location-allocation focused on charities. The objectives are to maximise collection value and social responsibility while minimising waste sent to incineration. Local councils and retailers partner with the charity to enhance collection, which acts as a supplier to shops, collectors, recyclers, upcyclers, and waste authorities. Key decision variables are pricing to councils per collected item from collection banks, selecting collection banks and shops, investing in corporate social responsibility (CSR) commitments, and exploring CSR’s relationship with the circular network. The model supports circular practices such as reuse and recycling, mitigates textile-related environmental impacts, and generates profit to fund charitable activities, creating social value. A small-scale case study using UK charity data demonstrates its applicability. The model, solved using the CPLEX solver with sensitivity analysis, offers insights for charity decision-makers on partnering with retailers and councils to increase profitability, improve collection value, address environmental issues, and enhance CSR while identifying cost-effective collection modes.
Keywords
- Optimization Modeling
- OR in Sustainability
- Programming, Mixed-Integer
Status: accepted
Back to the list of papers