Issue link: http://palletcentral.uberflip.com/i/860755
he wooden pallet industry is an $11.5 billion American success story, with close to two billion wood pallets in use every day in domestic shipping and warehousing operations; and about $400 billion worth of American trade is exported annually using wood pallets and containers. Given our product is made from wood, it is critical that we protect our forests – a valuable renewable natural resource – from tree pests, both at home and abroad. Recently, the effectiveness of the ISPM-15 program has come under question by the Cary Institute of Ecological studies, which advocates switching away from solid wood packaging (solid wood pallets and containers) because they believe ISPM-15 is not sufficiently protecting our forests. We couldn't disagree more. ISPM-15 works, and when it is implemented according to design, it significantly reduces the spread of forest pests. As such, the wood packaging industry plays a critical role in ensuring ISPM-15 remains the successful and effective program it is today. Businesses that follow ISPM-15 protocols ensure seamless global trade by adhering to the rules of the program, certifying pest-free wood packaging for exporters shipping to international markets. Likewise, the program ensures that imported products also comply with ISPM-15 standards. The program safeguards North American forests, while imported products arrive on wooden pallets and containers, uninterrupted, for American consumption . Since implementation of the ISPM-15 requirement in 2005- 2006, the risk of plant pests arriving via wood packaging have significantly decreased. In a study conducted by the Nature Conservancy with funding from a grant, infestation rates of live pests in consignments using wooden packing materials decreased by up to 52 percent from 2003 to 2009, following implementation of ISPM-15. 1 Background on ISPM-15 The International Plant Protection Convention (IPPC) developed standards to be used in international trade known as International Standards for Phytosanitary Measures (ISPMs). The application of these standards is designed to protect forests and ecosystems by reducing the likelihood of non-native pest infestations, preventing both loss of species diversity as well as economic losses associated with the costs of pest eradication and control. Some of these controls include heat treating solid wood material over a set amount of time in a dry kiln to kill wood boring pests. International trade using solid wood packaging material (SWPM), which includes wood pallets, containers and dunnage material, is managed through a set of phytosanitary measures referred to as ISPM-15. The purpose of the ISPM-15 program is to significantly reduce the spread of pests by mandating the use of wood that has been treated in a manner which destroys all regulated pests in the wood prior to shipment. Currently, there are three options for certified treatment: conventional heat treatment (HT), dielectric heating (DH) and methyl bromide fumigation (MB), all of which are permitted in the United States. Only heat treatment and dielectric heating treatments are allowed in Canada. These treatments, when properly implemented, have been scientifically proven to achieve 16 PalletCentral • July-August 2017 palletcentral.com INDUSTRY By Brad Gething, PhD, Patrick Atagi T PROTECTING FORESTS: ISPM-15 Works