22 WESTERN PALLET
Spotted lantern fly, originally from China, has invaded the US East Coast, and is expected to make its way to California. Credit: Stephen Asmus / USDA-ARS
Report from Atlas Pallets after Caliente Fire
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While the technology has undergone numerous tests and has received a stamp of approval from industry boards as well as the International Plant Protection Convention of the UN — the board that oversees wood packaging trade standards — the research team needs third-party validation and assistance with developing operational protocols to make its innovation “mill ready.” To that end, the scientists are working on a bilateral agreement with the U.S. and
Canadian lumber standard accreditation committees, both of which had representatives on-site for the trial in Penn State’s Forest Resources Laboratory.
More information about RF technology and project collaborators is available online at https://abe.psu.edu/research/bio-based-products/wood-packaging/about-research.
Pallet Repair Now Tops New in UK
Repair and reuse of wooden pallets has risen sharply for another successive year and now represents a greater volume of the market than new production, according to a joint report by the Timber Packaging & Pallet Confederation (TIMCON) and the Forestry Commission.
The UK Wood Pallet & Packaging Market in 2018, estimated that a total of 46 million wooden pallets were inspected and repaired during 2018, an increase of 3.6% on the previous year. With 44.9 million new pallets produced, the number of repairs surpassed production of new pallets for the first time ever.
Presenting the results, Guy Watt of John Clegg Consulting, who carried out the survey, said: “This is a striking trend, which could be a reflection of the increase in the cost of wood – so people are looking to repair rather than purchase new pallets – and secondly, it could be because there is now a recognition of the environmental benefits of recovering and repairing pallets.”
The increasing proportion and overall volume of new pallets being given some form of heat treatment was another of the survey’s notable trends. A total of 10.17 million new pallets were heat-treated, kiln-dried or both, by the TIMCON members who responded to the survey, an increase of 37.4% on the 7.4 million treated 2017. The survey analysis estimates that 46% of all the pallets produced were treated.
This is likely to be an indication of the industry’s increased activity to prepare for Brexit and the fact that, after the transition period, UK/EU trade will require ISPM 15 certification. Elsewhere in the survey, Brexit and the economy were by far the most-mentioned issues of concern to TIMCON’s membership.