The Pallet Foundation
Project Focus: Nature's Packaging®
Wood packaging is nature's packaging – the sustainable choice. So naturally, it seems appropriate that a collaborative project to plug the benefits of wood packaging be named 'Nature's Packaging.' The National Wooden Pallet and Container Association (NWPCA), the Canadian Wood Pallet and Container Association (CWPCA), and the Western Pallet Association (WPA) launched the project in 2015. By promoting the attributes of wood, developing educational materials, and providing sound research, Nature's Packaging works to increase the use of wooden pallets and containers.
Nature's Packaging® (Naturespackaging.org) is an ongoing project supported by the Pallet Foundation. It educates procurement and packaging professionals about the sustainability of wood packaging. The website provides tools and answers to the most pressing questions about wood products and manufacturing on the economy and the environment.
There are official data numbers on wood waste as a resource, landfill avoidance, forest health, carbon emissions, and coming soon, the environmental product declaration. In addition to research findings, Naturespackaging.org provides
marketing tools such as customer handouts, which summarize key questions that can be downloaded directly from the website. There is also the carbon calculator, which allows a user to input the number of pallets reused, recycled, and saved from landfills per month and receive the CO2 emissions saved per month along with the equivalent amount of cars taken off the road. Popular tools like these provide your business with reliable data for your customers to make an informed decision about their choice for packaging.
In recent months, website activity at Nature's Packaging has increased from hundreds of visitors to several thousand visitors per month. The content is relevant, data-driven, and third-party verified. The research is readily accessible to educate and inform customers, packaging specialists, and packaging students of wood's environmental benefits over alternative packaging materials. All of the research is available to share with your colleagues, sales teams, and customers.
Grace Johnson, NWPCA Manager, Policy and Public Relations
14 WESTERN PALLET