Chep, provider of pallet and container pooling solutions, announced today that an independent study has confirmed Chep's pallet system in Europe has the lightest impact on the environment when compared with alternative pallet systems, namely white-wood returnable pallets and white-wood disposable pallets.
Chep Global Director of Sustainability, Dr Juan José Freijo, said: "This is a clear competitive advantage and reinforces our view that Chep is the market leader in sustainability in our sector.
"We completed a comprehensive life-cycle assessment study for Chep Europe, which covered Chep pallet products and services. The assessment was performed by Brussels-based Intertek-RDC Environment, a leading environmental consultancy organisation and has been independently peer reviewed* and for ISO 14044 certification."
The life-cycle assessment study focused on Chep Europe's three key products: the Euro Pallet (1200x800mm), UK Pallet (1000x1200mm) and Half Pallet (600x800mm). Intertek-RDC evaluated the total environmental impact of the pallets over their entire life-cycle, from harvesting trees to end-of-life recycling.
The study results demonstrated that the Chep pooling solution generates the lowest environmental impact** among the analysed wooden pallet systems. Chep's intrinsic business benefits are key in achieving this environmental performance. These include use of certified wood, higher transport efficiency, lower losses and recycling at the end-of-life.
Dr. Freijo said: "We found that emissions and resource consumption when using Chep's pallet-pooling system are less than half than when using whitewood returnable pallets, and the waste generated is about 18 times lower than white-wood disposable pallets.
"The study enables us to provide Chep customers with the comprehensive information they need from their suppliers to assess the total environmental footprint of packaging, transportation and delivery of their goods on a pallet in the European supply chain.
"The life-cycle assessment also shows us on which areas we need to focus in order to reduce our emissions further and therefore improve our own environmental footprint."
In accordance with ISO 14044 methodology, a panel of three independent experts completed a critical review to verify ISO compliance of the life-cycle assessment and enhance its robustness. The panel comprised a life-cycle assessment expert from Solinnen, a logistics expert from CPV Associés (both of France) and a pallet expert from the European Federation of Wooden Pallet & Packaging Manufacturers (FEFPEB). The peer review panel appraised and validated the methodology, data capture, results and key conclusions.
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