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Getting Ready for a Green Future

Innovation can take many forms and even small changes make a difference when applied at scale. Packing materials are a major source of waste contributing to our constantly growing landfills. Pallets and wood packaging account for 3.9% of municipal solid waste totaling 11.5 million tons in 2018. Only 26.9% of discarded wood is recycled and after 14.5% is combusted for energy recovery 6.8 million tons of wood end up in landfills.

Being proactive and ditching traditional wood pallets for their new and improved counterparts will help make supply chains more sustainable and, in many cases, will translate into long-term cost savings.

  

     Wood Pallet                                                                          Corrugated Pallet

35-50 Lbs.                                                                                   10-14 Lbs.

   $5-$22                                                                                         $10-$15

                Difficult to recycle                                                     Standard recycling (compostable)

              Requires fumigation to export                                              Compliant to ISPM-15 and OSHA

 

Corrugated pallets are available in custom sizes perfectly tailored for endless applications. The design is impact absorbing and there are not sharp fasteners or splinters that can snag or puncture cargo. Being lightweight makes them ideal for air freight. One adopter reported a savings of over $100,000 in freight costs by utilizing 1 truckload of pallets a month.  Additionally, in an FTL shipment environment, a weight savings of 650lbs could be achieved by opting to use corrugated over wood in a standard non-stacked configuration.  

When the pallet is ready to be disposed of it can be processed with other corrugated paper recyclables and sold for $50 - $100 per ton to OCC recyclers. On the other hand, when wood pallets reach the end of their lifecycle there is generally a wood disposal fee when discarding the unwanted pallets to recyclers or landfills.

As sustainability continues to permeate the industry, we will see new innovations in shipping and packing materials that offer greater functionality than their predecessors without polluting the planet.

Contributor: Matthew Howard


About Allyn International

Allyn International is dedicated to providing high quality, customer centric services and solutions for the global marketplace. Allyn's core products include transportation management, logistics sourcing, freight forwarding, supply chain consulting, tax management and global trade compliance. Allyn clients range from small local businesses to Fortune 500 firms. Allyn conducts business in more than 20 languages and has extensive experience in both developed and emerging markets. Highly trained experts are positioned throughout North and South America, Europe and Asia. Allyn’s regional headquarters are strategically located in Fort Myers, Florida, U.S.A., Shanghai, P.R. China, Prague, Czech Republic, and Dubai, U.A.E. For more information, visit www.allynintl.com.

 

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