Wooden Pallet Manufacture Continues to Grow
20 Dec 2014
We reported earlier in the year that wooden pallet use was as strong as ever and that the industry looked set to grow; it has now been revealed that the manufacture of wooden pallets is increasing substantially.
The European Federation of Wooden Pallet and Packaging Manufacturers met for the 65th congress in Brussels recently. The congress this year looked at the pallet industry in the competitive European Union and showed very promising results.
The congress reported that pallet manufacture for 2013 had increased by 30 million pallets (401,000,000 from 371,000,000) on the previous year.
Despite some plastic pallet manufacturers denouncing the sustainability of wooden pallets, the industry has rallied together to inform consumers that pallets using either material both have their benefits for sustainability and environmental-friendliness. This became an obvious talking point for the congress, and some conducted studies suggested that when comparing wooden and plastics pallets of equal dimensions (and at maximum loading capacities), wooden pallets had a total cost 25% lower than the economic and environmental cost of its plastic counterpart.
As part of this talk, discussions were held on ISPM15 pallets and how they serve to bolster that sustainability of wooden pallets. Angelo Scaroni talked of using dielectric heating to treat pallets to IPSM15 standards. Here at Associated Pallets, we treat wood in our on site kiln. The end result of this is heat treated pallets that conform perfectly to the ISPM15 standard.
Next year’s congress is scheduled to take place at the end of October in Ireland; we hope to be reporting on more growth in the industry then!