The Pallet LOOP
SUSTAINABILITY
WHAT A WASTE SOLUTION P
allets are essential to the transportation of building materials nationwide. In the UK alone, the construction sector uses around 18 million
pallets every year to move bagged cement, roofing tiles, plasterboard and more. Material manufacturers, merchants and construction firms and builders can’t function without pallets – but there’s a big problem with how they are used.
Industry data suggests as little as 10% of construction sector pallets are recovered and reused, with the vast majority skipped or scrapped after just one journey through the building materials supply chain. This lack of pallet re-use generates vast volumes of waste (>250,000 tonnes) and utilises huge amounts of timber unnecessarily (circa 6,000 acres of forestry per annum). These figures are shocking from both a financial and environmental perspective and in stark contrast to the FMCG industry, where pallet reuse is ~98%. The Pallet LOOP is on a mission to redefine pallet usage use across UK construction. The Pallet LOOP is shifting away from the outdated linear practice of deliver, distribute, discard, to the circular model of recover, repair, reuse. The
The Pallet LOOP, the construction industry’s fcircular economy, pallet reuse scheme is actively contributing to the sector’s bid to achieve zero avoidable waste.
Pallet LOOP delivers an alternative to single use pallet practices and actively contributes to the sector’s bid to achieve zero avoidable waste and net zero carbon. At the heart of The Pallet LOOP is a pool of reusable green LOOP pallets that have been built to last and withstand multiple trips. Created with durability in mind, LOOP’s distinctive green pallets are made from 100% FSC wood, have an ISO 14040 compliant LCA, and are, on average,100% stronger than standard pallets used in construction today. The Pallet LOOP works with dedicated national recovery infrastructure and a 72- hour pallet collection service for end-users. By attaching a value to the pallet, which is refunded at the point of return, The Pallet LOOP provides a clear financial incentive for individuals and companies at the end of the supply chain to do the right thing and put pallets back into the LOOP - a positive shift in
behaviours and best practice that will benefit the entire supply chain. The Pallet LOOP is targeting early 2023 for the roll out of its green pallets. Several end-to-end trials are underway with building material manufacturers and merchants. These organisations recognise that using pallets just once is clearly unsustainable and carries a huge cost for businesses, the construction industry, and the environment.
Greener, leaner, safer Life Cycle Analysis estimates that the use of LOOP pallets by the whole of the UK construction could result in up to 40% less CO2 emissions and a 75% reduction in timber usage –
November 2022 A supplement to builders merchants journal
repurposing up to 6000 acres of forestry each year.
Using LOOP pallets could save the sector significant amounts of time and money. Most construction companies and house builders pay to dispose of unwanted pallets in waste wood skips. The Pallet LOOP estimates that construction companies could save in the region of £10,000 for every 1000 green pallets collected by LOOP. Tests conducted by Virginia Tech showed that standard LOOP 1200 x 1000 2WE construction pallets were at least twice as strong as other pallets currently used in the sector.
The Pallet LOOP has designed a suite of pallets for the distribution of different building materials. Easy to identify, the pallets all follow a standardised design that makes them safer to move, manage and stack, and which helps maximise lorry distribution capacity. n
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