Amol Tukaram P.
There is no doubt that the best solution for storing and transporting different products is pallets. Yet there is a lot of discussion when it comes to choosing between wooden pallets and plastic pallets. Therefore, it is good to know the main differences in order to make the right decision that would work the best for your business.
DURABILITY
I believe that it is only reasonable to look at this factor as the most important one as it is closely related to other factors as well.
And what is important to understand here is that wooden pallets can hold more weight. Which gives your better opportunities for transportation of a larger variety of goods.
It means that when there is a need to transport heavier goods you will not have to look for additional solutions as it would be if plastic pallets would be used. In long-term it could allow you to save significant financial resources.
There is of course no doubt that both wooden and plastic pallets can be damaged while the work is being done.
The good thing about wooden pallets is that they can be repaired, therefore you have no need to look for new pallets every time something happens. This means that wooden pallets will most likely be used for a longer period of time.
A lot of discussion arise when it comes to the price of manufacturing wooden pallets. There is a lot of information available pointing out that plastic pallets are cheaper to manufacture. The truth is however that the price for manufacturing a wooden pallet is significantly smaller than the one of manufacturing a plastic pallets.
Taking into account that wood is recyclable and renewable the price difference could become even more significant in the future.
IMPACT ON ENVIRONMENT
ECO-friendly solutions are highly popular nowadays and therefore we have to take this factor into account as well. There is absolutely no doubt that wooden pallets are more ECO-friendly than plastic pallets. It is so because as mentioned before they are recyclable and wood is the only 100% renewable material that we have.
STORAGE
There are no significant differences in the space that both wooden and plastic pallets take, when they are stored or transported. Of course, if we are talking about pallets of same sizes.
Some significant difference could only be achieved if the popular plastic skids would be used. They are plastic pallets without the bottom deck and this factor gives us a chance to save some space when they are stored, as it is easier to stack them on one another.
CONSTRUCTION
Those who usually argue in favor of the plastic pallets will most likely point out that there are fasteners used in the construction of wooden pallets and that they could in fact damage the goods that are being stored on them.
It is of course good that there are no fasteners what so ever used in the manufacturing of plastic pallets.
But the thing is that high quality manufacturers know all of this and they take these important factors into account.
Therefore the manufacturing of wooden pallets is done so that there would be no such fasteners that could damage the goods. What is more, the use of fasteners is what makes wooden pallets repairable!
MOISTURE AND BACTERIA
There is significant misunderstanding about how moisture and bacteria only affect wooden pallets and a lot of people in the industry therefore believe that plastic pallets are a better choice. This is however not true!
Heat treatment and chemical treatment are use to protect wooden pallets. And it is proven that more bacteria can be actually found on plastic pallets.
Of course, by looking at all of these factors it is important to understand that wooden and plastic pallets are more suitable for different businesses. And each individual should think through the work process and then make the decision. However it is clear that wooden pallets manage to ensure more benefits to us then plastic pallets.
ADAPTING TO THE SITUATION
As time goes by a lot can change in your business environment, which means that you have to adapt to storing and transporting different goods. Therefore you might need to change the specification or the construction of the pallets.
There will be no great problems to do so if you are using wooden pallets. As we know it is possible to dismantle the wooden pallet and you can change them the way they should be in order to continue the work. It will cost almost nothing for you and not a lot of time will be taken to do so.
However, the situation is completely different if you are using plastic pallets. You will have to pay for a completely new mold or choose to work with limited specification. Either way you will lose something. What is more, the production of new plastic pallets is significantly longer than for wooden pallets!
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