Abstract

The food-processing sector is one of the most environmentally-intensive sectors in the agri-food value chain that produces significant waste, effluents, and emissions during sourcing, conversion, and delivery. The concept of Green Supply Chain Management (GSCM) has become a dominant strategy for addressing the environmental aspect throughout procurement, production, packaging, logistics, and information systems. This research paper provides an integrative framework based on scientific literature (2000-2025) on GSCM in the food and manufacturing industries. The framework considers the institutional, organizational, and market drivers for the adoption of six GSCM practice categories-green procurement, eco-design/green manufacturing, sustainable packaging, reverse logistics/circularity, environmental management within firms, and IT traceability—and the respective impacts on performance. An analysis of twenty peer-reviewed articles on GSCM practices in the food and manufacturing industries, along with basic literature on GSCM, has been undertaken. Internal environmental management and green procurement became the most common and consistent sources of performance improvement among the selected best practices, while sustainable packaging and reverse logistics exhibited the highest level of food sector specificity due to perishability and wastefulness considerations. The study results reveal that the introduction of GSCM practices in food processing does not necessarily imply a trade-off between environmental benefits and economic performance but, on the contrary, may result in both improved environmental and economic performance, though GSCM implementation faces certain constraints related to costs and technology as well as institutions.