OUR PALLETS
Our products are made from quality recycled EPAL Wooden Pallets, which are the most widely-used exchange pallet in the world. Mainly used in Europe, there are more than 650 million EPAL pallets in circulation around the globe.
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Wood Processing
In order to make lumber into useable pallets, the raw wood must be treated. Treating makes the wood more durable and helps prevent bugs, mold, and fungus from making the pallets their home. There are two main types of treatment—heat and chemical.
The treatment applied to EPAL pallets is natural and environmentally friendly; it doesn't use any chemicals. This heat treatment involves placing EPAL pallets in a kiln in which the wood is heated.
Heat treated pallets are still able to decompose easily, and the heat has little effect beyond preventing pests and bacteria from infesting the pallet. Chemically treated pallets, on the other hand, are treated with methyl bromide, a chemical that successfully stops infestations but is also toxic in high concentrations or quantities for humans. Methyl bromide is one of the chemicals scientists believe to be contributing to the breakdown of the ozone layer, so on top of being dangerous for extensive human handling, these pallets affect the atmosphere when disposed of.
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Time
Wood products take, on average, thirteen years to decompose in a landfill. This might seem high—isn’t wood biodegradable? After all, it comes from trees, an entirely natural product. But it’s still the number. There are two contributing factors to this number: wood processing and landfill size.
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100% ENVIRONMENTALLY FRIENDLY – BY EFFECTIVELY REDUCING CO2
EPAL consistently promotes the use of environmentally friendly materials for its products. All EPAL pallets are almost completely produced from the renewable raw material, wood. Every single EPAL Euro pallet reduces our planet’s carbon budget by nearly 30 kg. The multi-use system put into practice through global exchange underpins the environmentally friendly attributes of the EPAL system. Even the steel components for the production of the EPAL Box pallet often remain in use for decades without burdening the environment.