From pallets to playgrounds
To reduce pallet waste, Fonterra’s National Pallet Manager Lawrence Hooker has been working with supplier Timpack to redesign Fonterra’s pallets.
As a global exporter, we close the door of a shipping container every three minutes. So, it’s no wonder we rely heavily on pallets to cart and ship product around. The new look uses fewer, narrower boards and less nails.
“For each pallet, we’re now using 25 less nails and we’ve reduced the weight by almost 5kg,” says Lawrence.
“In one year, 190 trees and five tonnes of steel were saved.”
It doesn’t stop there either. After we’ve used them, Timpack send them on to Reharvest Enviromulch who chip them up and use them in places like playgrounds.
In the last financial year, more than 1,600 tonnes of wood was diverted from landfill. That’s from 14,000 pallets and 760,000 replaced boards.
The pallet project is part of Fonterra’s wider efforts to move towards a circular economy, where materials once thought of as waste can instead be recycled and reused.
Other examples include turning Anchor™ Light Proof™ milk bottles into fence posts and shampoo bottles, and recycling Milk for Schools packs into school books and roof tiles.
To read more about Fonterra’s sustainability efforts click here.
Sustainability Report
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