Combining lean and green in manufacturing: a model of waste management

Abstract In this paper, we focus our attention on the modeling of waste management as an application of environmental concern (green) integrated with lean manufacturing. The literature confirms the convergence between the two concepts, for waste reduction. Nevertheless, there are interesting avenues of research in the development of an integrated model, at the crossroads of lean and green principles. So, we propose a framework in three levels for optimizing a waste minimization program: an integrated improvement process (level 1), a strategic matrix and an integrated toolkit (level 2), and finally an “advanced 3R (Reduction / Reuse / Recovery)” method (level 3).