Slashing waste for recyclable Alternative Pallets

The odds are that every product you have bought has sat in a warehouse on the wooden slats of a traditional pallet. These pallets can be heavy and cumbersome, leading to additional fuel usage and logistics time. The Alternative Pallet Company’s PALLITE® range of lightweight, strong, paper-based honeycomb pallets offers an affordable alternative to wooden pallets, with the same performance – and 100% recyclability.

To make this product line even more competitive with traditional timber pallets, the Alternative Pallet Company approached WMG’s SME group for its expertise in sustainable manufacturing and process optimisation. With 10 tonnes of paper honeycomb offcuts per month – 15% of the total produced – sent directly to recycling as waste, the challenge was clear: reduce waste and find alternative applications for whatever materials remained.

Using specialist optimisation software on their cutting templates, WMG were able to help the Alternative Pallet Company increase the number of products made from the same amount of materials, lowering the cost per part. This improvement alone helped the company cut six tonnes of waste per month – a 60% reduction.

Alongside this, WMG helped the company to prove investment in new machinery that would enable a break into new markets. By reimagining the use of the remaining offcuts, the team helped to develop a new product line for the business in packaging inners and fitments. By de-risking the investment decision, WMG helped to secure a projected £12,000 per month profit from this new product line.

Richard Darlow, Operations Manager, The Alternative Pallet Company said:

It is always a pleasure to work with WMG as they have experienced resource that is able to quickly absorb information and understand their customers’ needs and challenges. WMG can then collaborate and provide their thoughts with a much wider view than the customer, which promotes new ideas.