Well everyone, I suppose this is the first little bit of information I will put up here. It is basic but I hope it is a good start.
In 1995, the USDA reported that 6.32 billion board feet or about 38% of the annual US lumber production was consumed by wood pallets. Unfortunately, the pallet industry recovered 171 million pallets or 2.6 billion board feet and only roughly 139 million pallets were reused. This means that in 1995 alone 3.72 billion board feet of wood was dumped in landfills.
We cannot demonise the pallet industry as pallet recycling has multiplied four fold just within the 1990s: In 1992 only 13% of the wood used by the industry was recycled. However, by 1999, approximately 36% of the pallet consumption was fed by recovered pallets. Nonetheless, more than 60% of all pallets consumed are used once and then discarded.
Better recycling programmes and the petition for the use of 100% recyclable alternatives such as plastic, corrugated cardboard and metal are desperately needed to prevent such atrocious waste of natural resources and environmental commons.
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1 comment:
Nice blog.
Here in the UK, we largely use soft wood for pallets, I was suprised at the use of hardwood, but your comment:
"Better recycling programmes and the petition for the use of 100% recyclable alternatives such as plastic, corrugated cardboard and metal are desperately needed to prevent such atrocious waste of natural resources and environmental commons."
raised an eyebrow. As a general rule, I would of thought that plastic and cardboard would be poor substitutes for wood in such circumstances. Metal can be an expensive alternative, but both metal and wood are recycleable.
In my area, used wooden pallets have a value, and where I work we regularly sell them. Therefore reuse rates are high.
On our site, broken pallets and other wood waste (usually other wood packaging) are sent to be chipped and either composted or used for chipboard (or sometimes used as fuel). We occasionally find wood that is of a higher quality, but not sure of the type. It is a small proportion though.
Wood pallets are a sustainable packaging source when used form sustainable forests. Certainly preferable to plastic.
I should add that reused pallets can sometimes be a source of fungii, which certain products really don't need, so there are limits to where they can be reused.
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