A £2.5 million automated pallet inspection and repair service centre in Leicestershire has hit the milestone of processing more than 18 million reusable pool pallets in its first five years of operation.
IPP, one of Europe’s leading poolers of pallets and boxes, formally opened the facility in Bardon Hill at the start of 2019, with initial operations running in the final quarter of 2018.
Since the site started operating it has now processed more than 18 million pallets, at a run rate of between 3.3 and 4.5 million per year.
The premises on the Interlink Business Park, near junction 22 of the M1, is the biggest IPP service centre of its kind in Europe and reinforces the company’s commitment to the circular economy, its business model which promotes the recovery and continual re-use of durable pallets and boxes.
IPP has a long-term agreement with the James Jones Group, one of the largest timber processing groups in the UK, to operate the site.
David Bage, operations director of IPP, said: “The Bardon Hill site is a real success story and continues to support our drive to reduce waste and increase reuse at every stage of the supply chain.
“The concept for the centre was simple; it helps get ‘healthy’ pool pallets back on the road faster and damaged ones repaired in double-quick time.
“The relationship with our long-term partners James Jones continues to flourish and we’re delighted with the service they are providing us with at Bardon Hill.”
As well as repairing damaged pallets, the facility also installed a kiln in 2022 for heat-treating pallets.
IPP has dispatched more than 330,000 pallets to Europe since the kiln was installed, following the EU introducing a ruling on January 1, 2021 which states that all pallets exported to the trade bloc need to be heat-treated before they can enter.
You can see the Bardon Hill site in action in this video on YouTube.
For more information on IPP, search for IPP Pooling on LinkedIn or visit www.ipp-pooling.com.