Global Supply Chains filed with inefficiencys and carbon offer a lot of opportunity going forward from those looking to be involved in developing sustainable products and services, and one of the product I recently ran into (t/h Spendmatter) is the plastic pallet by iGPS.
A leap about wood pallets, what I like about this company is not just that they have created a solution to wood, but they have developed a product that is actually a solution to many other issues for business -RFID Tracking and pallet pooling that minimize the need to own pallets (It is amazing how expensive they are) and improves shipment tracking and security.
Where this product sells me though is its sustainability:
- protect forests
- reduces waste
- better hygiene
oh - and as it is lighter than wood pallets, it also saves on the oil needed to ship the goods they support around the world (hear that freight liners - you save money by promoting these!)
One area that I would like to see an improvement on though (information or product), is that while the pallets themselves are designed to be 100% recyclable, I am not sure if they are initially made from recycled or virgin plastic. One would hope they have found a way to use recycled materials
One sugestion (if I may be so bold) would be to offer a swap out service to manage the removal and recyling of old wood pallets as well. think of it as waste management.
2 responses so far ↓
1 John // Sep 3, 2008 at 4:57 am
A few questions…
How is IGPS making the pallets FIRE RETARDENT? If they are using a toxic chemical, then how GREEN are they?
2 Rich // Sep 3, 2008 at 10:14 am
John
valid questions, and while I cannot answer the first (the site is lacking in information on a number of things), I will take a stab at the second.
I think a conversation that defines “green” should take place as these are clearly “greener” and not “green”.
If they use a chemical that makes them fire retardant, then that does add a chemical component that takes away from it being an organic good.
However, as you need to fumigate and treat wood products for fire and insects as well, I am comfortable saying that even though they may have to use a chemical on the plastic.. at least the use of life being what it is for these products means that the net usage of these chemicals is less.
so.. greener.. not green.
R
Leave a Comment