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Cradle-to-Grave Life-Cycle Assessment of Wooden Pallet Production in the United States 7 Hardwood/softwood lumber production Transportation Electricity Nails/staples Paint Lubricants Treatment Distribution center Consumer product manufacturer Pallet assembling Wood preparation Emissions to air, water, land Natural resources End-of-life Waste treatment Downcycle Forest harvesting Forest management Pallet dismantle Pallet inspection Pallet repair/remanufacturing Product recycling/repair (B2) Raw material acquisition (A1) Raw material transportation (A2) Product manufacturing (A3) Use stage (B1) End-of-life stage (C) Reuse Figure 4. Solid wooden pallet process wood fl ow diagram. The environmental burdens resulting from transportation of raw materials to a pallet production facility, the reuse, recovery, and recycling manufacturing operations, and product disposal were considered in this study. 1.2.3 Cut-Off Rules In accordance with the wood pallet PCR, a process or activity that contributes less than 1% of the total mass or energy may be omitted from the inventory. In this study, no cut-offs were used in the analysis. 1.3 Functional Unit The FU is a measure of the function of the service or product generated by the studied system. It is used to normalize the material inputs and outputs and environmental impacts of the system based on the function of the product. The FU was selected as 100,000 lb (45.4 metric tons) of pallet loads of product delivered using wooden pallets, in line with the PCR. The number of pallets required to fulfill the selected FU was calculated using the load carrying capacity and reference service life (RSL) of the pallet analyzed: Number of pallets required 1 100, 000 lb (45.4 metric tons) of product delivered pallets required 1 pallets required 1 100, 000 lb (45.4 metric tons) of product delivered pallets required 1 100, 000 lb (45.4 metric tons) of product delivered RSL number of load bearing capacity pallets required 1 pallets required 1 pallets required 1 pallets required 1 trips lb trips lb pallets required 1 trips lb pallets required 1 pallets required 1 trips lb pallets required 1 RSL number of load bearing capacity RSL number of load bearing capacity trips lb RSL number of load bearing capacity trips lb trips lb RSL number of load bearing capacity trips lb trips lb trips lb RSL number of load bearing capacity RSL number of load bearing capacity RSL number of load bearing capacity RSL number of load bearing capacity trips lb RSL number of load bearing capacity trips lb trips lb RSL number of load bearing capacity trips lb trips lb trips lb trips lb trips lb RSL number of load bearing capacity RSL number of load bearing capacity RSL number of load bearing capacity RSL number of load bearing capacity trips lb RSL number of load bearing capacity trips lb trips lb RSL number of load bearing capacity trips lb trips lb RSL number of load bearing capacity trips lb trips lb RSL number of load bearing capacity trips lb RSL number of load bearing capacity RSL number of load bearing capacity RSL number of load bearing capacity RSL number of load bearing capacity trips lb RSL number of load bearing capacity trips lb trips lb RSL number of load bearing capacity trips lb trips lb RSL number of load bearing capacity trips lb trips lb RSL number of load bearing capacity trips lb pallet trip pallet trip RSL number of load bearing capacity RSL number of load bearing capacity RSL number of load bearing capacity RSL number of load bearing capacity pallet trip pallet trip pallet trip pallet trip RSL number of load bearing capacity pallet trip RSL number of load bearing capacity RSL number of load bearing capacity pallet trip RSL number of load bearing capacity RSL number of load bearing capacity pallet trip RSL number of load bearing capacity RSL number of load bearing capacity pallet trip RSL number of load bearing capacity (1) The RSL is the estimated number of trips a wooden pallet can make until the end-of-life phase. The pallet design, use phase, and handling and loading conditions have a significant impact on pallet durability and trip numbers. In this study, the FasTrack test protocol (developed and used at the Center for Unit Load Design of Virginia Tech University, Blacksburg, Virginia, USA) was used to quantify average number of trips up to the first repair (component replacement) using 30 replicate tests for each pallet type investigated (Cao 1993; ASTM 1998, 2017; VT 2018, 2019). The Pallet Design System (PDS) (NWPCA, Alexandria, Virginia, USA) methodology was used to identify the number of trips a pallet can make after the first repair or component replacement (NWPCA 2019). It was assumed that the pallet was repaired only once. The number of replacements can be determined by the PDS protocol as outlined in the guidance provided in the PCR, Section 3.1.1. However, as a prediction tool, PDS is generally understood to be a conservative estimate of pallet durability but is currently the only available source for reliable durability estimation. See Appendix B for design details and pallet dimensions. Wooden pallets are produced in various designs differing in size and dimensions of pallet components. For industry- average LCA analysis, the four most commonly used wooden pallet types were selected representing the wooden pallet supply chain in the United States (NWPCA 2014,

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