Issue link: http://palletcentral.uberflip.com/i/1177710
38 PalletCentral • September-October 2019 palletcentral.com here are probably more than three things your customers want to know from you. However, we'll start with three, all courtesy of support from The Pallet Foundation. 1 Wooden pallets are the most recycled packaging product. According to 2018 Virginia Tech research, wooden pallets have the highest recycle rate at 95% compared to alternative packaging materials. Only 75% of paper/paperboard is recycled; 17% for plastic. Environmental awareness, limited space, and a desire to be more efficient have driven solid waste facilities to sort and recover certain types of waste. Wooden pallets get used, reused, and recycled, all by pallet recyclers or by landfill facilities, which provide recycled by-products, such as mulch, to their local communities. Knowing how your company recycles wooden pallets may be a key reason your customer keeps working with you. 2 The carbon footprint of the wood packaging industry is extremely positive. The recycling of wooden pallets removes the equivalent of 2.9 million cars from our Nation's roadways each year. The fact is sustainability initiatives of your customers are growing. In addition to the Fortune 500, many companies have sustainability policies in place or are considering such. Share some tools from Nature's Packaging, including the popular carbon calculator. Your customers will want to know the environmental impact that your company is having when they recycle wooden pallets. Share NaturesPackaging.org, and all the resources on wooden packaging and its attributes, so your customers can make informed decisions. 3 Pallet professionals use cutting-edge technology and research to ensure pallets are safe, durable, and sustainable. Safety is critical for wood packaging procurement specialists, as are the resources and cost. To make a stronger and safer pallet, professionals in the industry use the Pallet Design System™ (PDS) software. The latest research involving wood packaging and unit loads is ground-breaking. With the newest PDS release on unit loads for boxes, you and your customers can work closer together on solutions to build a stronger, safer pallet, while keeping the cargo intact. Share examples of cost savings with your customer, and you'll become one of their most valuable pallet suppliers. The science and understanding of how wood packaging interact with unit loads are crucial to advancing the industry, and there is more excitement ahead. Investments in research projects to analyze how drums affect the load capacity of pallets are ongoing. The environmental product declaration to be released in early 2020 will provide your customers with a certified, verified, third-party nutrition label for wooden pallets. Special thanks to The Pallet Foundation donors for making all this possible. The projects and research are part of more than $1.5 million that The Pallet Foundation and NWPCA have committed to PDS and our industry over the next two years. Visit The Pallet Foundation to contribute to these projects, or for more information, PalletCentral.com/PalletFoundation. PC T The Pallet Foundation Helps You Answer the Top Three Things Your Customers Want to Know