Sustainability is an ongoing challenge for industry supply chains. Consumers often don’t recognize the enormous complexity of a reliable supply chain. According to the National Wooden Pallet and Container Association, nearly two billion pallets are in use every day in the United States.
How are Wooden Pallets Sustainable?
The entire lifecycle of a wooden pallet is designed to be sustainable, from the type of wood that is used to the disposal of the pallet. Here are a few key factors that contribute to the sustainability of wood pallets.
Industrial or Low-grade Lumber is Used
Wood is a natural and renewable resource. That already makes wood pallets a cost effective and reliable product. But at Challenger Pallet, we go a step further in sourcing the wood we use for pallets from industrial or low-grade wood. High-grade wood is the lumber that is used for constructing homes, buildings, furniture, and other common structures. Low-grade wood is approximately 5% of the log that doesn’t get used for high-grade lumber. It is often thrown out or chipped and wouldn’t get re-used.
Sustainable Practices in the Wood Products Industry
The North American wood products industry leads the world in sustainable forestry practices. As such, there are laws and regulations in place to protect forests in the US and Canada. This ensures that forest resources are maintained now and in the future.
Each year, 1.7 billion trees are planted in the United States to assure that forest cover will continue to expand for future generations.
Wooden Pallets Require Less Energy
Because wood pallets are sourced almost wholly from organic materials–wood–they require much less energy to produce than other types of pallets.
Wooden Pallets are Repaired and Reused
Millions of wood pallets are built each year, and they are often used several times before disposal. Also, if wooden pallets go through a little wear and tear, they can be repaired for continued use. At Challenger Pallet, we even use portions of old pallets to build remanufactured pallets to save our customers money and re-use lumber.
Wooden Pallets are Diverted from Landfills
Over time, wood pallets do wear down and break beyond repair. In order to reduce waste, we divert pallets from landfills by bringing them to our wood recycling facility. Unfortunately, some wood pallets do get sent to landfills, but there are many companies in the wood pallet industry that go out of their way to prevent this.
Byproducts are Created from Wooden Pallet Waste
In our efforts to keep wood pallets out of landfills, we repurpose old pallets and excess wood into byproducts like animal bedding and firewood.
Moving The World, Safely, Securely & Sustainably.
Wood packaging is Nature’s Packaging®, an ongoing program to educate the procurement and packaging professionals about the sustainability of wood packaging. The website provides tools and answers to the most pressing questions about wood products and manufacturing on the economy and the environment.
To know more visit: https://palletfoundation.org/about/
Comments