Ikea is saying goodbye to wooden pallets and hello to paper ones.
The Sweden-based furniture manufacturer expects to trim $193 million a year from transport bills by replacing wooden pallets with paper that will be used once and recycled, Bloomberg Businessweek reported.
“We donґt know if the paper pallet will be the ultimate solution, but itґs better than wood,” Jeanette Skjelmose, sustainability chief at Ikeaґs supply-chain unit, told Bloomberg.
Ikea uses 10 million pallets to transport goods from suppliers to its 287 stores in 26 countries, Bloomberg said. The cardboard pallets, which weigh nearly 50 pounds less then its wooden counterpart, will begin to be used this month.
In addition to saving money on transportation costs, Bloomberg said, the paper pallets are one-third the height of wooden ones and will allow Ikea to ship more goods.
Executives in the pallet industry told Bloomberg that the paper pallets cannot withstand heavy loads or extremes in weather. Ikea told the news organization that it shouldn’t be an issue.
Source: Waste & Recycling News