Paper Pallets? They’re Stronger and Lighter Than Wood.
Although wooden pallets are the de facto standard in most of the supply chain, corrugated paper pallets offer some surprising advantages that many businesses may not know about.
Strength
A typical wooden pallet can hold up to 4,600 pounds of material. Corrugated cardboard pallets can actually support up to 10,000 pounds when weight is distributed evenly across the pallet. That’s more than twice as much as wood.
How is that possible? Corrugated cardboard has a pattern of alternating ridges and grooves sandwiched between layers of paper. This design helps to distribute the weight of the load. Similar to wooden pallets, cardboard pallets are engineered with one axis being stronger than the other. However, the additional strength afforded by the grooves and ridges gives the cardboard pallet much more weight capacity.
Weight
Consider this: average wooden pallets weigh anywhere from 30 to 70 pounds, depending on the size of the pallet. The equivalent sizes of paper pallets weigh in between 13 to 19 pounds. That’s a 56-72% weight reduction, depending on the size of pallets.
While reducing a single pallet from 30 pounds to 13 pounds might not sound like a lot, think about the economics when you multiply that 17 pound reduction across a 53’ trailer full of pallets, or a shipping container. And then multiply that savings by the number of trailers or containers you fill per month or per year.
Eco-Friendliness
Paper pallets are made of predominantly recycled material, and are 100% recyclable themselves. Although wood is also a recyclable material, cardboard is far easier and cheaper to recycle.
In addition to their recyclability, paper pallets can help you reduce your carbon footprint by reducing shipping weights, thus reducing fuel consumption.
