Logistics: eco-friendly and economical transport with plastic pallets

Eight to ten times on average a wooden pallet is used in the handling area of logistics before it shows a defect and has to be sorted out. This is neither particularly economical nor good for the environment. Pallets made of plastic offer a more sustainable solution.

In an interview with K-MAG, Wolfgang P. Albeck talks about the switch from wood to plastic and the concrete advantages of plastic pallets for companies and the environment.

Mr Albeck, how did the decision to use plastic pallets instead of wood come about?

Wolfgang P. Albeck: In 2019, we started using plastic pallets as loading aids in our long-distance transports, i.e. in the transport between our 36 sorting centres in Germany. Pallets are a long underestimated production factor in logistics. Many companies assume that the use of wooden pallets and the exchange option are without alternative, cheap and sustainable, but on closer inspection all that is not the case.

In what way?

Albeck: We have analysed the use of our wooden pallets in detail and found three structural points at the core. Firstly, the low durability. In the handling area of logistics, wooden pallets have a defect after only a few turns (8 to 10!), are no longer safe and have to be sorted out and booked out as broken pallets. Moreover, in pallet exchange you do not always receive flawless, but already damaged loading aids. Secondly, wooden pallets are heavier than the H1 pallets we use, absorb more and more moisture over time and thus become even heavier. Thirdly, the wooden pallets become darker due to the absorption of moisture and dirt. Then they are no longer considered hygienic and may no longer be used according to the EU rules for the transport of pharmaceuticals (GDP), which trans-o-flex adheres to.

How could the plastic pallets solve these problems?

Albeck: The 30,000 plastic pallets we have been using since 2019 have reduced the annual number of broken pallets by 240,000. On the other hand, we hardly have any breakage with H1 pallets. They are predicted to have a service life of more than seven years.

At 18 kilos, H1 pallets are a quarter lighter than wooden pallets. These weigh 24 kilos when new and also absorb more and more moisture in the course of their life, making them even heavier. As a result, a full articulated truck with freight on wooden pallets has to carry over 200 kilos more load on each journey. Finally, the plastic pallets are GDP-compliant throughout their entire service life.

How do you as a company benefit from the changeover?

Albeck: We have been able to increase productivity because we have less work with the plastic pallets. In addition, they are cheaper on balance. Although they have higher acquisition costs, they save money in the end in a full cost calculation. And the prices for wooden pallets have at times tripled in the last two years.

Recently, you have also started making the pallets available to your customers. How does that work exactly? And what are the advantages for the customers?

Albeck: After the advantages in internal transport have clearly been proven, we wanted to make these advantages directly available to our customers as well. We have therefore now started to provide our customers with plastic pallets for so-called mixed pallets. These are consignments on which the customer stacks parcels for different recipients. We collect these mixed pallets from the customer and bring them to one of our sorting centres. There, the parcels are taken off the pallet, distributed to the different relations and the pallet can go back to the customer. In order to ensure that there are always enough pallets on hand at the customer's premises, even in the event of fluctuations in quantity, we can assume as a rule of thumb that the customer needs about three times the number of pallets that he sends as mixed pallets every day. The benefit for the customer is also less breakage, easier handling for the employees, less administrative effort.

To what extent can plastic pallets make logistics more sustainable?

Albeck: By being more economical and environmentally friendly. The durability, the lower weight and the GDP conformity clearly speak for the plastic pallet. According to a Fraunhofer study, an H1 pallet causes 50 per cent less CO₂ emissions over its entire life cycle than an equivalent number of wooden pallets in the same time. What's more, the pallets we use can be completely recycled if they ever break down. The plastic is regranulated and can be used to make new pallets again.