Taking into account the fact that return logistics is a relatively young branch of the economy, for which no major research has yet been carried out as part of its improvement, it is not surprising that it has only recently achieved the status of an increasing number of researches in current scientific works. The very structure of this work is based on several chapters, which cover the areas of logistics and its development, then the subsystems of business logistics, which brings us to the concept of reverse logistics, which is also the main subject of research in this thesis. In the framework of return logistics, its main features and carriers are listed, as well as the key areas of return logistics that concern the return of products as well as their recycling. Within the concept of recycling, which is used more and more today, some economic benefits and the very future of recycling are mentioned, as well as possible directions for the development of green logistics. In order to relate this issue to its application in practice, it is stated what sustainable waste management is at the European level, but also at the level of the Republic of Croatia, which highlights the waste prevention plan. Within the scope of waste management at the level of the City of Rijeka, an example of the work in practice of the waste management company Metis d.d.

Uzimajući u obzir činjenicu da je povratna logistika relativno mlada grana gospodarstva, za koju još nisu provedena velika istraživanja u okviru njezina unaprjeđenja, ne čudi podatak da je upravo ona tek unazad nekoliko godina postigla status sve većeg broja istraživanja u aktualnim znanstvenim radovima. Sama struktura ovog rada temelji se na nekoliko poglavlja, čime su obuhvaćena područja logistike i njezina razvoja, zatim podsustavi poslovne logistike čime dolazimo do pojma povratne logistika koja je ujedno i glavni predmet istraživanja ovog diplomskog rada. U okviru povratne logistike, navode se njezina glavna obilježja, te nositelji, kao i ključna područja povratne logistike a koja se tiču povrata proizvoda kao i njihovo recikliranje. U okviru pojma reciklaže koji se danas sve više koristi navode se i neke ekonomske koristi i sama budućnost reciklaže, kao i mogući pravci razvoja zelene logistike. Kako bi se ova problematika vezala uz primjenu u praksi, navodi se što je to održivo gospodarenje otpadom na europskoj razini, ali i na razini Republike Hrvatske, čime se ističe i plan sprječavanja nastanka otpada. U okviru gospodarenja otpadom na razini područja Grada Rijeke, navodi se i primjer rada u praksi društva za gospodarenje otpadom tvrtke Metis d.d.