The pallet sector has to be far more concerned with environmental issues than it used to be. With the considerable pressure to re-use pallets, it often pays to use a pallet pooling firm. Although plastics have a bad reputation among environmentalists, the reality is plastics are actually better than wood at cutting fuel emissions.

This article was first published in the July 15th 2020 issue of Warehouse & Logistics News, subscribe to the magazine by clicking here.

It may also be worth considering buying used pallets. Used pallets are exempt from packaging waste regulations, so buyers are spared the costs and paperwork of meeting these regulations. It makes economic sense to buy quality used pallets or use a repair service as used pallets are cheaper than new and so are more cost effective. Pallets refurbished to their original specification, as recent research has shown, are often stronger than new.

Goplasticpallets.com has introduced a cost-effective, folding plastic box to its extensive range that offers a multi-trip alternative to the ubiquitous one-trip cardboard box. Moulded from polypropylene plastic, the Magic Box boasts superior strength when compared to one-trip cardboard or corrugated designs, making it suitable for multiple trips. With handgrips on each end, the folding box can be assembled and ready for use in just in three seconds. Like all plastic boxes, the Magic Box is weather-resistant making it less vulnerable to damage. At the end of its use, it can also be sustainably recycled, through Goplasticpallets.com’s pioneering recycling scheme.

Pallet pooling company LPR helped Sofidel Group, one of the leading manufacturers of paper for hygienic and domestic use worldwide, meet demand during the Covid-19 pandemic. Demand for household supplies and longlife staples increased exponentially hitting its peak during March this year. The challenge for LPR was supporting a business which saw volumes increase beyond those usually seen ahead of Christmas peak – with no warning and the ability to forecast being limited. LPR started by working with Sofidel to review the current position, to understand what the best possible increased forecast could look like, and then assessed the increases in activity it saw with other customers in similar sectors. Once this was complete, both businesses created a forecast and looked to prepare their teams to respond.

With a new stacker crane for dynamic storage and a transfer car, which enable the fast and safe storage and retrieval of up to 100 pallets per hour, Interroll is expanding its Modular Pallet Conveyor Platform (MPP), a flexible modular system for driven pallet conveying. The new products allow users – in seamless interaction with the proven Interroll Pallet Flow dynamic storage system – to implement extremely compact, robust and efficient pallet handling automation solutions that excel with very low planning and installation costs and high energy efficiency.

Getting back to environmental concerns, it is worth remembering it takes much less energy to recycle plastic than it does to recycle wood. Other alternatives to wooden pallets also exist, including Pallite, the slip sheet and composite materials.

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