2-trucks_aside1.jpgThe nature of pallet pooling as a business model provides a clear net benefit to the environment by reducing the environmental impact of transport packaging waste by providing them with standard reusable pallets and containers. CHEP’s environmental commitment includes ensuring that all of our wood, plastic and steel waste is recycled. With the Environment a top agenda item for most companies, CHEP has always been confident that its pallet pooling system, where equipment is continually circulating throughout the supply chain, delivers significant environmental benefits when compared with the returnable white wood or the disposable pallet alternatives.

Working with Leeds University, CHEP has developed a comprehensive model that calculates the savings over a ten year period. With this newly developed tool, CHEP can now quantify the benefits to its customers in terms of the number of trees saved from being cut down and the reduction of CO2 in the atmosphere.

Dr. Darron Dixon-Hardy from Leeds University, an acclaimed institution with an established world-wide reputation for the provision of high quality teaching and environmental research, comments “An increase in global temperatures is expected to cause important changes, including glacier retreat, sea level rise, species extinctions and extreme weather events. Most national governments have signed and ratified the Kyoto Protocol, aimed at reducing greenhouse gas and in the process Global Warming also.”

CHEP PALLET POOLING DELIVERING CARBON DIOXIDE SINK
A carbon dioxide sink is either a natural or artificial resource that captures and stores carbon dioxide. Carbon dioxide sink is beneficial to the environment because it reduces the amount of carbon dioxide, a major greenhouse gas, which may otherwise be released into the atmosphere. The main natural sinks are the oceans, plants and other organisms that use photosynthesis to remove carbon from the atmosphere, generating oxygen as a byproduct.

chep_pallet-tree.jpg“To help mitigate Global Warming, a variety of means of artificially capturing and storing carbon (while releasing oxygen), as well as of enhancing natural sequestration, a term used to describe the processes that remove CO2 from the atmosphere, are being explored”, says Dr Dixon-Hardy. “As an example, in the United States in 2004 forests sequestered 10.6% of the carbon dioxide released in the country by the combustion of fossil fuels (coal, oil and natural gas, etc). Urban trees sequestered another 1.5%. To further reduce U. S. carbon dioxide emissions by 7%, as stipulated by the Kyoto Protocol, would require the planting of an area the size of Texas [8% of the area of Brazil] every 30 years”, says Dr Dixon-Hardy, ” and he adds “the fact is however, that the solution does not necessarily lie in planting more trees but rather in avoiding felling them in the first place, and this is where CHEP has a important role to play.”

ENVIRONMENTAL BENEFITS CALCULATOR
Working closely with Leeds University, CHEP in Europe has developed a comprehensive model that calculates the significant environmental benefits to be gained by companies who use CHEP pallets, rather than returnable white wood or disposable pallet alternatives. With this newly developed model CHEP can now quantify the benefits to its customers who switch to use CHEP in terms of the number of trees saved from being cut down and the resulting reduction of CO2 in the atmosphere as a result.

The model, which can be applied for different sizes of wooden pallets, calculates the savings over a ten year period. With the methodology fully endorsed by Leeds University, it requires the pallet user to provide details of their operation including the number of movements, cycle times, percentage of damage, losses, and transportation distances. It considers the operational and pooling efficiencies of CHEP, the responsible use and conservation of timber during the entire pallet life-cycle, including production and repair, and the carbon sink effect and oxygen generation from the trees that do not need to be felled.

If you consider CHEP’s European operation over a 10 year period and assuming a growth rate of 10% per year, CHEP will save more than 242 million trees from being felled, when compared with one-way disposable pallets. This represents an area of 8,500 km2, equivalent in size to the Canary Islands, in Spain.

Dr. Darron Dixon-Hardy added “CHEP’s model is an exceptional piece of work. It is a perfect tool to demonstrate to potential customers that they can significantly reduce their environmental footprint. I have worked with numerous companies over the last few years and I have to say that CHEP is the company that impresses me the most. The CHEP team is a fusion of knowledge, cultures and capabilities. CHEP is an outstanding company”.

CHEP ENVIRONMENTAL CREDENTIALS
CHEP’s pooling service fully complies with the latest European Packaging and Packaging Waste Directive (94/62/EC) focused on:
(1) Prevention of Packaging: CHEP only pools standard equipment using a minimum of new natural resources from sustainable managed forests.
(2) Reuse of Packaging: CHEP retains the exclusive ownership of all its equipment, which is continually maintained and reused in the supply chain.
(3) Repair: In order to ensure a consistent quality of equipment, the pallets are regularly inspected and repaired where required. This extends the lifespan of the equipment to at least 3 times the industry average.
(4) Recovery of Packaging. The European directive obliges all EU Member States to recover at least 60% of its packaging by December 2008. CHEP excels in this area through its asset recovery program, collecting and reusing more than 95% of all CHEP material on a regular basis.
(5) Recycling of Packaging Waste. The European directive obliges all EU Member States to recycle at least 55% of its packaging waste by December 2008. Through its repair operations CHEP generates wood, steel and plastic waste. 100% of this waste is stored and shipped to certified recycling and re- processing plants to be reused, for example, in the production of composite chipboard, pallet blocks and steel products.

chep-logo.jpg“The nature of equipment pooling is such that it encourages reuse. Since CHEP began operations in 1945 it has adopted this business model and therefore has always operated an environmentally friendly business. With the help of Leeds University the Environmental Calculator has enabled us to prove categorically this to be the case.” says Marc Michielsen, Director, Government and Regulatory Affairs, CHEP Europe.

A BETTER ENVIRONMENT, A BETTER FUTURE
The environment enveloping the earth has undergone many changes since it was created. Looking to the future, national governments, nongovernmental organizations, and industry are making advances in order to meet the environmental challenges we face. The CHEP pallet pooling system delivers logistic savings and operation efficiencies, helping environmental protection. Everyday.

CHEP UK & Ireland
Tel: 0800 73 74 75
www.chep.com

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