"Investment in circular practices should sit at the heart of any business's sustainability programme." That was the message from goplasticpallets.com this week, as the Eastbourne-based company marked recycling 3,000 tonnes of plastic - a milestone that has saved the CO2 equivalent of taking 640 cars off the road for a year.
goplasticpallets.com launched its recycling scheme, the first of its kind across the sector, in 2019. Since then, the company has collected plastic pallets and boxes at the end of their lifespan, transporting them to its recycling centre in Belgium - regardless of the original supplier. To date, more than 540 truckloads of plastic have been dispatched to Europe, where they are manufactured into new products.
Seven years ago, goplasticpallets.com set a target to recycle 1,500 tonnes of plastic by the end of 2025 and accomplished that goal two years early. As a result of this achievement, the business set a revised ambitious target to recycle 5,000 tonnes by 2030. By hitting 3,000 tonnes this week, the company is now 60% of the way to that long-term goal, and there is optimism they will surpass that final target a year ahead of schedule.
Using conversion factors published by WRAP, the government-backed body behind the UK's official Carbon Waste and Resources Metric (CarbonWARM2), recycling 3,000 tonnes of plastic is estimated to have saved more than 2,500 tonnes of CO2e compared with sending the same volume to landfill. This is roughly the equivalent to taking 640 cars off UK roads for an entire year.
Lee Denyer, Finance Director at goplasticpallets.com, said: “Our recycling scheme continues to go from strength to strength. This is a clear indication that more businesses are now prioritising circular practices and committing to greening their supply chains - but more needs to be done.
“Reaching the 3,000 tonne milestone is an incredible team effort, built up shipment by shipment since 2019. It also says a lot about the appetite our customers have for doing the right thing with their old equipment, and we're proud to have made that as easy as possible for them.
“This isn't just a vanity side project for us. Sustainability is deeply ingrained across our entire business. More than nine in ten of the pallets and boxes we sell are already made from recycled material, and we guarantee to recycle all products we supply once they reach their end of their lifespan.
“Much of the plastic we are currently recycling comes from first-generation pallets and boxes, introduced into supply chains many years ago. The pallets we continue to supply today have considerably improved lifespans, which benefits the environment even further.”
For more information on goplasticpallets.com's recycling services or to explore the company's sustainable logistics solutions, please contact sales@goplasticpallets.com or call the team on 01323 744057.