WOOD – The most sustainable, durable and green material for pallets

The use of pallets, especially wooden pallets, has been increasing across industries for transporting or shipping goods across the supply chain. With increased awareness about the environment and reducing the carbon footprint, one of the major concerns across the industries is the sustainability of the materials that we use in our everyday activities. Every business using pallets in today’s world is getting increasingly aware of how to use pallets effectively to reduce costs and make the business as eco-friendly and sustainable as possible.

Increased use of wooden pallets

• Recently, as per the market research by Technavio, the use of wooden packaging such as wooden pallets, wooden boxes, etc has been increasing consistently. As per their survey, wood packaging such as pallets and wooden boxes for export and import are a cost-effective option for end-users when compared to substitute products such as plastic pallets. For instance, the average cost of wooden pallets is two times lower than that of plastic pallets. Also, wood packaging products are 100% recyclable and naturally absorb bacteria which helps protect products from cross-contamination, when compared with plastic packaging products.
• Wooden pallets are completely biodegradable and can be recycled 100%. Additionally, it is scientifically proven that the lifetime carbon footprint of wooden pallets is way below any alternate material pallets.
• Wooden pallets are easy to repair if damaged during transportation, which is certainly not the case with plastic or metal pallets.
• Wood is also a 100% renewable resource that can be grown out of the earth, unlike other man-made resins that are used to manufacture plastic.

As countries are becoming increasingly aware of the environmental impact, they are encouraging various scientific methods to cultivate forests and increase wood cover. As per a recent report, in spite of Europe being one of the largest consumer and exporter of timber products, the net forest cover in Europe has increased over the past few years. This is a true testament to the fact that the use of a wooden pallet is only going to increase as a sustainable source of production, unlike any other alternate material.