Every year billions of tonnes of cargo are transported by road, rail, sea and air all around the world while in the UK alone more than a billion of tonnes of goods were transported across the country by road freight last year.
With increasingly global supply chains and the internationalisation of markets, these numbers are set to increase further – the Institute of Export estimates an increase of global freight by at least 5 per cent every year until 2025.
There is an undoubted environmental cost to this huge amount of global freight, from the energy used in its transportation through to the packaging used to ensure that the goods arrive safely at their destination.
As the UK’s leading independent provider of bespoke transit packaging products and services, we have a significant part to play in helping to reduce the carbon footprint of freight by providing the most sustainable packaging solutions for our clients.
A changing picture
As the world seeks to mitigate the effects of the climate emergency and hopefully restrict rising temperatures in the years to come, all businesses are being urged to explore ways in which they can lower their own global footprints.
Many of the major manufacturers, who are also the largest users of freight and packaging, are making commitments to reduce their carbon footprints with long term aspirations to eventually reach zero net carbon emissions.
These goals will only be achieved if reductions are made all along the supply chain and so as a key supplier to a number of major exporters, it is important that we work in partnership with them help them reach their carbon targets.
The UK has also recently introduced its Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) programme, which requires all businesses responsible for packaging to collect data on our outputs and pay waste management and environmental regulator fees, providing a secondary incentive to ensure that all our packaging solutions are as efficient and sustainable as possible.
The best products for the environment
At Nicklin we provide an extensive range of packaging products manufactured from timber and corrugated cardboard.
There are numerous other materials that can and are used for packaging, but we firmly believe that timber and cardboard not only provide the necessary structural qualities for safe transportation but are also an incredibly environmentally friendly packaging option.
At any one time there are more than two billion timber pallets in circulation around the world, plus more than 200 million tonnes of shipping boxes are created every year from cardboard so the raw materials necessary to support global freight is considerable.
However, unlike potential alternatives such as plastic, wood is a highly sustainable material and if properly managed, it can actually have a net negative carbon footprint.
Wood v plastic
There is no doubt that plastic has been a hugely important material in the development of modern society, but it has also had a hugely damaging impact on the environment.
Plastic does not biodegrade and so either has to go to landfill or be melted down for recycling and yet just six per cent of plastic packaging in the UK is recycled – compared to 80 per cent of cardboard and paper.
Plastic pallets are around three times more expensive than wood and while they may have an initial longer lifespan, they need more energy to produce and recycle and are not suitable for bespoke single-use requirements.
Cardboard however has one of the lowest carbon footprints of any packaging material with its mix of recycled and virgin wood fibres, a manufacturing approach that not only ensures the quality of the product but is also complementary to the principles of the circular economy.
This means that cardboard is also 100% biodegradable and does not pose a threat to our natural environment should it find its way into the oceans and waterways.
Sustainably sourced
It is a sad fact that every year an area half the size of the UK is cleared of often irreplaceable natural forests, creating a profound economic, social and environmental impact on local communities and the wider world.
Because of this we source all our raw materials from Chain of Custody certified suppliers, ensuring that all the timber we use is sourced from well managed forests and not contributing to the destruction of the world’s forests.
Pallets and wood packaging are also made from by-products using lengths, grades and sizes that are not in demand for home building, furniture and other industries, ensuring that nothing from the forest goes to waste.
Recycling and reuse
One of the great practical and environmental benefits of wood is that it has the durability characteristics to permit extensive reuse.
Wood packaging and wood pallets can be engineered to allow reuse multiple times or designed to enable single-use with the least possible material content and can be recycled between users and similar unit load applications.
Responsible recyclers repair pallets with fit-for-use criteria to ensure that the pallets meet the performance requirements for secondary users. Recycled pallets can also be used for creating other wooden products depending on its quality, ranging from horse bedding to panel boards and many things in between.
The lifetime emissions of timber pallets can be further reduced if they are turned to mulch or wood pellets and used as biomass fuel, reducing the need for the extraction of fossil fuels and creating a positive environmental impact over its lifetime. When you consider that this can provide a net negative C02 balance for every pallet equivalent to the energy used by a hot air balloon, it shows the possibilities that timber presents for a more sustainable future.
