Pallet Evolution campaign launched to boost awareness

The UK pallet industry is rapidly evolving. Where plastic pallets accounted for a mere few per cent of the market 10 years ago, developments in design and manufacturing means that they are increasingly gaining ground on wooden pallets.

Today, the plastics industry as a whole is achieving record-breaking environmental targets and is one of the biggest contributors to the UK’s industrial growth. Yet the public’s perception and appreciation of plastics remains extremely low.

We decided to launch Pallet Evolution to help educate pallet users about the many advantages of using plastic pallets and dispel some of the myths that threaten to give plastic pallets a bad name.

One of the major misconceptions about plastic pallets is that they are less sustainable than wooden pallets. Yet plastics make a positive contribution to all three aspects of sustainability – environmentally, economically and socially. These have become known as the Three Pillars of Sustainability.

Environmental sustainability
Only four per cent of the world’s oil production is used for plastics and much less energy is used to produce it compared to other materials, giving plastics an excellent environmental profile.

Plastics are lightweight yet much more durable than many materials and can be moulded into strength enhancing shapes to create products suitable for a myriad of uses. Pallets, packaging components and cars are a few examples of products that have been transformed through advances in plastics manufacturing.



The optimum recovery route for most plastic items at the end of their life is to be recycled. Many plastic products, including plastic pallets, can be reground and recycled again and again.

Economic sustainability
According to the Office of National Statistics (ONS), plastics manufacturing was recently cited as one of the key contributors to the UK’s growth in industrial output. Today, plastics make a significant contribution to the UK economy:

• There are more than 7,500 businesses engaged in the UK plastics industry.
• The plastics industry has an annual turnover in excess of £19 billion.
• Plastics are a much needed source of export revenue – in 2011 the UK exported £6.7 billion of plastics and plastic products.
• For many plastic products, especially construction related products, the whole supply chain resides in the UK.

Social sustainability
The UK plastics industry is socially inclusive and offers a wide range of worthwhile careers. Plastics companies employ some 180,000 people throughout the UK.

The industry is also very attentive to training through sector skills council Cogent, and safety as demonstrated by the British Plastics Federation’s accident survey statistics.

Help celebrate our plastics industry
As the UK’s leading independent supplier of plastic pallets and boxes, Goplasticpallets.com is passionate about plastics, as every day we see the positive impact they are making by offering our logistics sector a cleaner, safer and tougher alternative to other pallet types.

Plastic pallets aside, Pallet Evolution aims to reach out to the wider plastics community in the UK and provide a resource where they can share their experiences and celebrate the successes of the plastics industry.

If your company is as passionate about plastics as we are, we welcome your thoughts and opinions and you can contact us at [email protected]

For the latest Pallet Evolution news you can follow us on Twitter @PalletEvolution or visit www.palletevolution.com to discover more.