With policies and practices constantly changing for manufacturers they needed an alternative to tick all the boxes being set for them: lighter in weight; safe handling; clean and hygienic; no need to meet ISPM15 Certification; and a working life span of around ten times that of wooden pallet.
Let's forget the above issues for just a moment; you have to ask the question how an industry built on logging trees can be sustained long term. Won't you need to find an alternative eventually?
Hardwood timber is more difficult to source now than it ever has been before. Do you risk buying pallets that have been made from imported hardwood sourced from countries with environmental ethics?
Light weight
Weighing 20-30kg less than timber pallets, plastic pallets can save you in the long run. The initial cost of the plastic pallet may have you falling off your chair at first but there's more to it than just a unit cost that needs to be considered.
Safe handling: no nails & splinters
Timber pallets have some serious hazards associated with them in dispatch areas. Splinters, whilst not catastrophic, are painful and can cause significant infections when not treated correctly. Nails protruding out of a pallet can not only injure a worker, it has a nasty habit of damaging your stock and costing you even more money.
Clean and hygienic: no mould or dust contamination issues
It's impossible to imagine how you could possibly keep a wooden pallet clean from dust and mould. Short of coating it with a layer of Polyethylene or Polypropylene it's not possible to keep a wooden pallet clean. If you're shipping products from a clean room your business cannot afford the risks associated with cross contamination. With plastic pallets being able to handle continuous washing and steam cleaning, it's the only hygienic choice.
No need to meet ISPM15 Certification
If you need to export or already export you'll be all too familiar with all the paperwork that needs to be filled in and the criteria that need to be met. It's hard enough to do all of this for exporting your own product let alone worrying about the timber material you are shipping your goods on. Plastic pallets take away that need for paper work as ISPM15 is not required. So it's one less thing for your to-do list.
Working life averages 10 times that of wooden pallet
Plastic pallets easily outperform timber pallets with an estimated lifespan of over 10 years. Wooden pallets get a new lease of life with repair but if you happen to need this pallet in between repairs, you could find yourself using a weak inferior product that's probably lost its shape.
For more information about a full range of plastic pallets, please click here.
