Henkel signs new pallet contract with Chep

Chep, provider of pallet and container pooling solutions, has announced that Henkel has signed a lane expansion contract for the use of pallet pooling services in Germany, replacing white exchange pallets. As part of the agreement, Henkel will benefit from Chep's Carbon Neutral Pallet service offer and explore transport collaboration initiatives to reduce environmental impact.

Henkel is a laundry & home care, beauty care and adhesive technology provider. For more than 137 years, Henkel products and technologies have been making peoples' lives easier, better and more beautiful. Headquartered in Düsseldorf, Germany, Henkel holds global leading market positions both in the consumer and industrial businesses with well-known brands such as Persil, Schwarzkopf and Loctite. Henkel ranks among the Fortune Global 500 companies and generated 16,510 million euros in sales in 2012.

Henkel's Head of Logistics for Germany and Switzerland, Oliver Wittig, said: "Chep is helping us build a better supply chain through effective pallet management and their ability to optimize networks and deliver excellence in asset productivity"

"We have developed a close strategic relationship with Chep for many years and recently decided to replace the remaining white exchange pallets with CHEP pooled pallets at our laundry and home care products facility in Holthausen, Germany. All our production is now palletised on Chep, which is generating excellent results both in terms of cost savings and sustainability benefits."

A recent independent life-cycle assessment study confirmed that CHEP pallets in Europe have the lightest impact on the environment compared with alternative pallet systems, namely returnable and disposable pallets. The study was performed by Brussels-based Intertek-RDC Environment, a leading environmental consultancy, in accordance with ISO 14044 methodology.

Based on this assessment, by using Chep pooled pallets in Germany, Henkel will reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 895 metrics tonnes per year – the equivalent of the emissions resulting from the electricity used by 123 homes for one year^[1] – as well as preventing 76 metric tonnes of wood from being sent to landfill every year.

Henkel and Chep have become even closer sustainability partners since Henkel's decision to participate in the Chep Carbon Neutral Pallet service offer to further reduce their environmental impact. The Carbon Neutral Pallet service offer extends Chep's existing sustainability initiatives by enabling customers to purchase carbon credits to help finance emission-reduction projects worldwide. It is an immediate and cost-effective way for CHEP to support customers to reach their carbon reduction targets.

Chep VP and Country General Manger for Germany, Christophe Campe, said: "Sustainability is a key element of our value proposition to our customers. We intend to do everything in our power to maintain the quality of our equipment and services to the highest standards and actively help optimise Henkel's transport and logistics operations. By doing this, we help them towards the achievement of their sustainability goals."

Discussions are on-going concerning potential further integration of these Chep sustainability programs globally across Henkel. Henkel works with CHEP across Europe, Americas and Asia-Pacific.

^{[1] According to the Greenhouse Gas Equivalencies Calculator used by the United States Environmental Protection Agency.}