Making with Pallets
By Steve Cole, Associated Pallets
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Now, more than ever before, schools are looking for ways to integrate sustainability into their D&T curriculum. One way is to reuse materials we might otherwise throw away. One such material is the wooden pallet. Pallets can be broken down for their raw materials but can also be used for interesting starting points for GCSE and A-level projects. Students can be given the challenge of upcycling pallets into usable products.
Recycling Pallets
Hundreds of millions of pallets are used around the world each year to transport and store goods. With so many being used so frequently, many pallets often come to the end of their life and are ready for disposal. It is important that businesses and people across all industries who use pallets, know how to recycle them in the correct manor.
How Are Wooden Pallets Recycled?
The first goal for any damaged pallets should be to get them back into service. This may mean refurbishment or repairing the broken pallet. However, there may be times when the pallets are beyond repair.
In these instances, pallets can be stripped and dismantled into reusable components with a pallet dismantling machine.
The timber from that, once good, pallet will be reused and applied to other used pallets.
Any pallets which are of an odd size, unable to be reused or dismantled will be sent to a chipping facility. They then will be turned into sawdust and other wood chippings. The wood chippings or sawdust will then be used by farmers and many other industries. Many of the wood chippings you see on park floor areas are from old end-of-life pallets.
Benefits of Recycling Pallets
Reduce waste to landfill
If a pallet is not disposed of correctly, it can often end up in landfill. This of course has damaging effect on the local environment and much more. By recycling pallets, not only are they diverted from landfill, but they have value through the creation of new products
Conserve natural resources
Recycling pallet materials to create new products means fewer natural resources will be harvested and manufactured into goods. This is significant in preserving trees. Of course, trees are renewable, but do take many years to regrow.
Reduce climate change effects
Pallet recycling can help reduce the effects of climate change. Trees naturally process carbon dioxide and help reduce the levels of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. Additionally, landfill sites contribute to greenhouse gases, this means any waste diverted from landfill is key in helping the environment.
Making with Pallets:
Making with Pallets:
Pallets can be used to make all sorts of products.
To enable students to understand certain timber processes, pallets can be used as an excellent case study.
Class discussions could focus on why certain types of softwood or hardwood are chosen for pallets and how pine is often chosen, due to its consistency in strength and weight alongside its ability to be kiln dried and therefore resist mould, fungi and other pests.
Students could be introduced to the processing of ripping felled logs into stock-form boards via a case study of a humble pallet. Students could also be introduced to heat treatment, a processes often required if the pallet is going to be used for foodstuffs or internationally shipped.
The way the pallet is nailed together could also introduce students to pneumatic nail guns.
A pallet is a great example product for understanding mass production and largescale machinery in a factory setting.
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