The Alternative Materials Pallet Guide features more than 80 businesses that offer pallets made from plastic or other materials.
Although wood is the dominant material used in the pallet industry, there are several alternative materials — notably plastic, metal and corrugated cardboard. Even among these categories there are various materials available. In the plastic arena, for example, there is virgin material and recyclable plastic, and different types of plastic. Some even offer composite materials.
The Alternative Material Pallets Guide features businesses that offer pallets made of alternative materials, which may be ideal for specialty applications or closed loop systems. Information in the guide was gathered through responses to a survey form distributed by the Pallet Enterprise, and in some cases, from publicly available information. Some are manufacturers. Some are distributors. Some are traditional wood pallet companies that have partnered with other businesses to supply alternative pallets to their customers.
If you are a wood pallet company that wants to partner with an alternative pallet provider to enhance your current product offerings, this guide is the best place to start to research your options.
This year’s guide features more than 80 businesses that manufacture, distribute, lease, rent, license and/or market pallets made from alternative materials. These companies offer a variety of styles and sizes of pallets, both standard and custom-designed, stringer style and block style and other configurations. Some of their offerings include specialty pallets such as for 55-gallon drums or for rolls. If you have a specialty pallet need, this guide is a perfect resource to help any company find the right pallet.
Of the companies represented in the guide, the majority use plastic as a pallet material, and some of them offer other types of materials, too. There are many different pallet designs offered in plastic, with some pallets made from a single piece of plastic, and others constructed of two or more pieces which fasten or lock together. Manufacturers use different types of molding processes. Some are assembled from plastic components. Some are reinforced with metal while others are not.
Pallet prices in the guide range from only a few dollars to hundreds of dollars or more; however, many businesses did not include their pallet prices because they vary a great deal based on size, order quantity and/or customization required.
Most of the businesses represented in the guide offered some form of expendable or export pallets. The majority also reported that their pallets were either nestable or rackable or both.
Most companies note the benefits of plastic or other materials compared to wood, such as durability, cleanliness, compatibility with automated material handling systems, recyclability, and other factors. Some companies also sell used pallets.
Some of the companies featured in the guide also supply non-standard wooden packaging using metal hardware or wood composites. And some are pallet suppliers that can provide their customers with traditional wood pallets as well as pallets made of alternative materials.
The guide is intended to help pallet companies assist customers in finding specialized solutions. There may be brokerage opportunities in some cases for wooden pallet companies. Pallet users can also utilize the guide to directly find the solution they want.
A downloadable PDF of the guide can be found at www.palletenterprise.com/AltGuidepeNovember2015pdf.pdf
