Savings calculator for plastic versus wood pallets

An online calculator has been developed to allow companies to instantly see the fuel savings and environmental benefits made possible by switching to all-plastic pallets from typical wood pallets.

Developed by Intelligent Global Pooling Systems (iGPS) the simple-to-use calculator uses data from the US Environmental Protection Agency to quantify relationships between cargo weight, fuel usage, and greenhouse gas emissions.

Companies input the number of truckloads they ship annually, along with the average number of pallets per truckload. The calculator instantly displays the total annual reduction in weight realized by using iGPS's lighter pallets, the resulting fuel savings, and the associated greenhouse gas emissions that would be avoided.

iGPS is the world's first company to provide an all-plastic pallet pool with embedded RFID-tags to enable shippers and receivers to track and trace shipments in real time. Its pallets weigh 30% less than typical multi-use wood pallets.

The calculator is on iGPS's website - www.igps.net.

Along with the environmental benefits resulting from the lighter weight of iGPS' all-plastic pallet, the company noted that additional greenhouse gases are reduced because the pallets help eliminate deforestation resulting from the manufacture of wood pallets.

Research shows that nearly 40% of all hard wood harvested in the US is used for wood pallets, and it is well documented that deforestation is another major contributor to global climate change.