OCTOBER 2020
The wood pallet industry is dedicated to environmental sustainability and now has the science to prove it. We finally have the data to back up what we’ve known all along - that wood packaging is a leader in environmental stewardship. With the NWPCA’s recent release of the environmental product declaration for wood pallets, the sustainability of pallets has been independently, third party certified.
This environmental product declaration is much more than just another valuable tool in our toolkit. Environmental product declarations (EPDs) are fast becoming the worldwide standard for comparing materials and products for their environmental impact. To develop usable EPDs for the wooden pallet, the Pallet Foundation funded a research project with the USDA Forest Products Lab. The report is the accumulation of over two years of data collection and number crunching from USDA researchers. It is the first of its kind for a product in the distribution packaging space.
The first step and foundation of any EPD is a life cycle assessment (LCA). The LCA for our industry began with a survey, quantifying the environmental and energy costs for 20% of the annual production of wood pallets (by volume) in the country. The LCA shows us the impacts of a wooden pallet’s product stages of gathering, transporting and manufacturing raw materials, the use and repair of the pallet, and its end of life usage.
According to the research conducted by the U.S. Forest Service Products Laboratory and certified by Underwriters Laboratory (UL), “When considering its life cycle, wooden pallets can have a potential net carbon positive impact. Through the unique properties of wood, carbon offsets may be achieved by the reuse of pallet materials and substituting wood fuel from pallet waste (ex: unusable pallets) for natural gas.” This means that the use of pallets, believed by many to be harmful to the environment, can actually benefit the environment in the long term. Alberto Uggetti, vice president and general manager of UL’s environment and sustainability division, further explains that “the reusable nature of wooden pallets makes them a more circular, sustainable form of reusable packaging, and with this EPD, manufacturers will be able to communicate the impacts of their products with more transparency and confidence.” (Cont'd on Page 18)
This type of report is invaluable to members of our industry as it helps purchasers better understand our product’s sustainable qualities and environmental repercussions, allowing them to make a more informed product selection. As competition heats up for companies at all levels to meet sustainability goals within their supply chain and beyond, choosing wooden pallets is a simple, yet impactful piece of the puzzle. Working hand-in-hand with eco-friendly warehouses, green logistics and other emissions-reducing technologies, wooden pallets move the needle when it comes to making the supply chain both more sustainable and efficient. The full wooden pallet EPD, including its methodology and data, along with the corresponding LCA can be found at www.palletcentral.com/epd.
The Pallet Foundation
Project Focus: Environmental Product Declaration
Grace Johnson, NWPCA Manager, Policy and Public Relations