iGPS Plays Green Card
By Chaille Brindley
Date Posted: 1/1/2009
I have always found the environmental debate about wood versus plastic pallets to be a somewhat comical issue. Both sides have points to make. Both sides seem to play up the negatives of the other. There are many reasons to choose a plastic pallet over a wood one. But I don’t know that sustainability is one of them.
There is a reason why CHEP and EPAL run wood pallet pools. These are the two largest pallet pools in the world, and they both use block style, wood pallets. I believe large pool operators choose wood because it combines the best set of features for the money.
Over the past two years, iGPS has risen on the scene in the United States and has started to push its all-plastic pallet pool. Touting its environmental credentials, iGPS recently announced a partnership with the National Forest Foundation (NFF) to plant over 100,000 new seedlings to further support reforestation efforts on public lands.
Launching its program with a tree planting media event in the San Bernardino National Forest, iGPS is trying to take the environmental high ground. The underlining message behind iGPS’ marketing effort is cutting down trees is bad, and plastic pallets help reduce deforestation. This is an old argument, but that doesn’t make it an accurate one.
Let’s explore the issue I raised above about the two largest pools in the world using wood. Why would they use wood instead of plastic, metal, corrugated or some composite material? I believe the real answer boils down to cost.
Wood pallets are easily reparable, sustainable, fairly durable if built right, cost effective, and strong. Wood pallets won’t break the bank if they are lost. That’s the big issue when it comes to most other materials – the high cost of replacing stray assets.
Human nature remains the major driver behind wood pallets. You just can’t be sure you will get back plastic or metal pallets even if they have tracking devices in them. When it comes to RFID, tracking is only as reliable as the last scan. Even world-class software with deep integration by partners will result in some stray pallets because human nature plays a huge role in any sophisticated logistics network. No matter how green the platform, the key to sustainability is the number of turns a pallet can make. Whenever you hear someone has done a life cycle analysis, the number of turns is a key number that tends to get fudged a little in favor of whoever has commissioned the study.
The November issue of Pallet Enterprise recently carried an in-depth article on the issue of sustainability and pallets. The final conclusion was that there isn’t enough data to accurately say which platform is better. For starters, the landfill record data is way too old. A lot more wood pallets are recycled now than when the federal government last did its detailed study of pallets going into landfills.
iGPS hasn’t been around long enough to get accurate information on the long term durability and reuse/turn of its assets. Compounding the complexity of the argument is the fact that each supply chain is different. While plastic may be lighter and require less fuel in transport, wood is renewable and can quickly biodegrade at the end of the pallet’s life cycle. Wood generally requires less energy to produce and is more easily recycled.
While iGPS has done many novel things, one thing that it has not done is change the kamikaze attitude of U.S. forklift drivers. Even though a little more respect may be paid to a plastic pallet than a wood one, to most guys on a forklift, a pallet is a pallet is a pallet.
What bothers me most about the recent iGPS marketing effort is the complicity of the National Forest Foundation, a forest conservation organization started by Congress in 1991. Bruce Scholnick, president of the National Wooden Pallet & Container Association (NWPCA) recently pointed out this concern in a rebuttal issued to the press.
Bruce said, “The principles of the president of the National Forest Foundation (NFF) Bill Possiel are clearly for sale to the highest donor. The evidence of this is his recent misinformation campaign promoting the use of plastic pallets over wood on behalf of recent contributor Intelligent Global Pooling Systems (iGPS).”
The NWPCA was reacting to statements made by the NFF that reflect iGPS talking points not the reality that most pallet recyclers know to be true. Bill Possiel said, "Of all the hardwood logged in the United States, 40% is used for pallets which are frequently used only once and then landfilled.”
He added, “Wood pallets are heavy, bulky, and increase shipping costs and energy used in transportation. We are proud to work with iGPS to restore our forests and reduce demand for hardwood species, which sequester carbon and provide many other ecosystem benefits."
The NWPCA pointed out in its press release a number of glaring omissions and half truths in the statements made by Possiel. The NFF seemed to miss the fact that most trees are not “killed” to make pallets. Most pallets are made from lower grade wood. Just like you don’t kill a cow to make hamburgers, you don’t generally cut down a tree to make pallets. There are some exceptions. But even smaller trees that are processed through a scragg mill are often cut down to thin forests to prevent disease or as part of a larger logging effort where high grade material is already being harvested.
Why is it that plastic pallet proponents keep on talking about white wood pallets as if they are used only once? Are you kidding me? What do recyclers do then? Give me a break. White wood pallets may not make as many turns as a plastic pallet can. But that is hard to really nail down specifics on because broken wood pallets are rebuilt to extend the life of the platform whereas most damaged plastic pallets are simply reground to make a new pallet.
This little media incident just highlights what I have been saying for a while. A variety of companies (both wood and plastic pallet suppliers) are using environmental issues to make public relations points with customers without effectively dealing with complexity of the science and modern supply chains. Companies are spending money showing they have the greenest solution in town. But they can't all be right. Sustainability has basically become a red herring. I am all for planting trees and reducing deforestation. The big problem is that most people don't really understand what deforestation is.
Harvesting trees and using some of the wood for pallets does not necessarily equal deforestation. I would argue in most cases this actually leads to reforestation. Every tree that is harvested leads to more planting in most cases because the timber produces returns for the landowners. True deforestation occurs when landowners turn property into a strip mall, new sub division or even a farm.
Read more about deforestation at http://www.greenspirit.com/trees_answer.cfm
If you want to find out more about the events covered in this little editorial, visit the links below.
Video footage and photographs from the ceremony can be viewed at: http://igps.net/advantage/nff.php
The NWPCA response can be found in the Nov/Dec issue of Pallet Central at:
www.palletcentral.com/
