IKEA ditches wooden pallets for cardboard
In an attempt to slash costs and emissions, IKEA experiments with cardboard shipping pallets. But like some IKEA products, the single-use nature of these pallets has some wondering if they're a more eco-friendly option.
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I was able to visit the IKEA Savannah Port operation with a large group of members of the National Wooden Pallet & Container Association this past year and saw first hand how successful this use of corrugated slave pallets is working contrary to the comments so far made. Many within the industry recognize this concept has great potential and IKEA is in essence "the first pickle out of the jar" in introducing this new concept. It must bekept in mind; the slave pallet only supports the load.... More
What a dumb idea. Wood pallets have a lifetime of about 10 years and are exchangeable.
Besides being cheaper they also allow reduced handling time.
CHEP esimated the lifecycle of a white wood pallet to be 4 trips before needing to be rebuilt. Of copurse they are vested in switching pallet users to their system, but even in a pooled-pallet system like CHEP's, each pallet only lasts 30 trips before needing a rebuild. This is hardly 10 years.
The advantage to a paper pallet is zero rebuilds. All the infrastructure involved in collecting, rebuilding, and redistributing that pallet disppears. The pallet makes two trips: one to the.... More
Actually, corrugated board (cardboard) is a very green product. Corrugated board can be recycled several dozen times before the pulp fibers beceome too short to crosslink and provide strength. The industry has been recycling boxes for nearly a hudnred years. It's mixed right in with brand new wood chips.
For a long time, deforestation was a concern but regs and costs made it profitable to grow 'farm forests'. Softwood like pine and fir grow very fast. Now, the paper industry grows more.... More
Hmm--they already make those cardboard roof racks for transporting your goods home. I suspect the construction will be similar. I do wonder though about the recycle vs reuse. It seems to me that the chances of these getting wet and melting also might be high.
This is a disaster waiting to happen. Someone will be losing their job when this fails.
