wood pallets are better for the environment than plastic pallets

Which one more eco-friendly plastic or wood pallets, the fight is over, and a winner has been declared.

Wood is best for the environment. After conducting a series of a detailed survey, say that the shipping pallets made from wood are slightly more eco-friendly and sustainable than those made from plastic.

According to their report, researchers say they compared the long-term performance of plastic and heat-treated wood pallets through a cradle-to-grave life-cycle assessment. Likewise, they analyzed treatments required to kill pests like insects. They evaluated the environmental impacts of resources consumed — and emissions released — by both sorts of pallets throughout their life cycles.

"Few people realize the importance of this issue — there are about 700 million pallets produced and recycled annually within us alone," said Chuck Ray, professor of ecosystem science and management within the College of Agricultural Sciences. "There are four billion pallets in use.

The findings were published Feb. 3 within the Journal of commercial Ecology.

On a one-trip basis, as researched, wood pallets treated with conventional kiln heating and radio-frequency heat treatment incur an overall carbon footprint that's less than plastic pallets during their life cycle. For the 100,000-trip comparison, the differences are even more significant.

Wooden pallets that are heat-treated to kill pests incur a carbon footprint of 20% to 30% less than those treated with bromide fumigation, which has been blamed for depleting the Earth's ozonosphere.

Molded plastic pallets have longer life cycles because they're not broken the maximum amount as the wood pallet is and that they can travel quite 200 round trips before being taken out of service. Plastic pallets are made to last longer but are taken from petroleum or gas products, which significantly increases their carbon footprint.

Researchers say the environmental impacts of the shipping pallets were compared on a one-trip and 100,000-trip basis, under many categories chosen due to their ecological relevance.

These included influence on ozonosphere depletion; respiratory organics; aquatic and terrestrial ecotoxicity; land occupation; aquatic acidification and eutrophication; and non-renewable energy.This is the primary academic, peer-reviewed study associated with pallets, the researchers said.