Are you #ForestProud?
Did you know the recycling rate for pallets is 95%! Can you believe that? Ninety-five percent of the pallets in circulation in our economy are or will be recycled at the end of their lifecycle. While this may seem like just another random statistic, when you compare it to recycling rates for other common packaging materials it’s remarkable. The recycling rate for paper and paperboard is 75%. Steel is 72%, glass is 32%, and plastic is only 14%. Wow! That means that wood pallets are the number one recycled packaging material. Recycling is an imperative step in continuing the efforts of protecting our environment and practicing sustainability.
Over the last two years, the #ForestProud campaign has been active on the internet. Its purpose is to draw attention to the forest product sector. ForestProud is an initiative of the North American Forest Partnership and is dedicated to telling the story of the diverse community responsible for stewardship of our forests. This initiative continues to promote the forest products sector as an environmentally friendly industry. In the past the forest products sector has sometimes had the stigma of negatively impacting our environment. The #ForestProud campaign is a series of videos highlighting all things forest related from wood pallets to cardboard to drinking water. The ForestProud mission is to build trust and support to manage, harvest, conserve, and play in North America’s forests in ways that address key societal challenges.
Every day two billion pallets circulate in this country transporting a huge variety of products from place to place. Two billion – 2,000,000,000 – that’s a lot of zeros! Pallet production continues to grow, and annually the pallet industry produces 849 million pallets, both new and recycled. As members of the National Wood Pallet and Container Association, we at Kamps Pallets are proud to support #ForestProud and continue our efforts in sustainability and recycling.
