While it cannot be denied that wooden pallets are the leading favorite in the transportation industry, their use has grown in popularity over the recent years.

Plastic pallets and wooden pallets: The difference

Although the popularity of wooden pallets remains unfazed despite the different types of materials used in pallet-making these days, there is a rising demand these days for the pallets. Indeed, this is true is many industries. As a matter of fact, more and more business owners and professionals do opt for these than the wooden ones. Even though wood pallet still commands 90 percent of the U.S. market share, while plastic accounts for only 2-5 percent market share, the trend of using pallet has considerably risen and more than doubled over the last 10 years.

So what makes plastic unpopular in the pallet market industry? One of the reasons is the expensive cost manufacturing that pushes the price up. But in evaluating the purposes of the two types of pallets, instead of simply looking through which is good or bad with the product, it is also important to assess its longevity and impact to the environment. So you can do the evaluation, you have to check what pallet is reusable in its original form.

In the end, remember that a wood pallet is only good for a single use. It is easily replaceable and its resource lumber is renewable. However, plastic is nonrenewable since it is manufactured using petroleum, which is a nonrenewable source. Likewise, wood is 100 percent recyclable and biodegradable, while plastic is not. But aside from the many advantages of using wood, the plastic pallet continues to gain bigger following. After all, it is manufactured by means of injection molding, thermo-forming, rotational molding, structural foam and compression molding. As a matter of fact, many different businesses and industries, from pharmaceuticals and automotive to grocery, foods, and beverages are all making the shift to plastic pallets.

As discussed earlier, usability is one of the important reasons that weigh most on why companies choose plastic pallets. This reason has driven manufacturers to invest on this by designing unique pallets that is highly useful and efficient for a certain industry industry that will use it. Likewise, plastic pallets come with affordable options, making them truly comparable to their wooden counterparts. This is done because resin that came from recycled and scrap regrind are used to manufacture this material.
International regulations demand that wood should first pass through a series of treatments to prevent pest migration while being exported. This makes them favorable among industries because the treatment itself makes wood pallets more expensive. Plastic pallets are projected to rise in popularity. In fact, it has been slowly gaining grounds through the years. So there is no surprise if one day it takes the place of wood pallets. Experts predict that they will one day play an important role in the transportation, freight, and storage industries since more companies are converting to automation levels. Because of the reliability and usability of plastic pallets, it is slowly becoming a leading choice compared to wood, which is susceptible to splintering and damage.