The Pallet Truth

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  Every year in the United States alone, 1 million acres of our planet’s trees are destroyed to manufacture and produce the wooden pallets used to operate the distribution industry.
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  Approximately 4.2 million tons of wood pallet materials were landfilled in the US in 1995; this equals 1.4% of total waste and 19.6% of total wood waste landfilled.
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  When a species' natural habitat is gone, it becomes hard for that species to adapt causing extinction. The ultimate result of deforestation is a major decrease in biodiversity.
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  Tribromophenol, a chemical used as a flame retardant on wooden and plastic pallets was cause for an over eighty million package Tylenol recall, after consumers reported a musty odor coming from the drug's bottles.
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  In the case of the sweeping Tylenol recall, an anti-sap-staining chemical used on wood pallets was cited as causing nausea, vomiting, diarrhea and stomach pain in at least 70 consumers, according to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
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  Wooden pallets used 7.6 billion board feet of lumber in 2006 alone. That is enough wood to cover an area 10 times the size of New York City.
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  Estimates show we lose 137 animal, plant, and insect species each day due to deforestation, equating to 50,000 species every single year.
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  Methyl bromide is applied to wood pallets to kill invasive pests on shipments coming into the U.S. Because of methyl bromide’s harmful effects on the Earth’s Ozone layer, it will soon be banned through the UN’s Montreal Protocol.
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  Formaldehyde, Methyl Bromide, and Tribromophenol are among the toxic chemicals used to treat wood and plastic pallets. Millions of these wood pallets are then ground up and turned into mulch we often use to cover our children's playgrounds.
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  A recent study conducted by the FDA reported that 10% of pallets intercepted and tested contained traces of E. Coli and Salmonella, among other harmful bacterias.
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  To replenish 1 million acres of trees will take approximately 40 years.
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  Wood pallets have become a major factor in our planet’s deforestation. Deforestation is one of the largest contributors to global warming and our Earth’s sudden spike in temperatures.
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  It is estimated that nearly 30% of CO2 buildup in our atmosphere can be attributed to deforestation over the past 150 years.
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  The Arson Bureau of the New York State Fire and Prevention and Control conducted a nonscientific test to compare how plastic pallets burn compared to those built from wood. Their findings indicated that plastic pallets burned hotter and quicker than their wooden counterparts.
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  Burning wooden and plastic pallets can produce irritating and potentially toxic fumes and gases, including carbon monoxide, aldehydes and organic acids that can affect our Earth's atmosphere, and workers and residents near the fire's burn radius.
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  Wood dust is found in pallets and is a carcinogen associated with nasal and sinus cavity cancer, lung cancer, and Hodgkin's disease.
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  According to the World Resources Institute, more than 80 percent of the Earth’s natural forests already have been destroyed.
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  Wood pallets, typically weigh 70 to 80 pounds. This means higher fuel consumption while shipping, and thus greater pollution.
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  Wood is naturally porous, and because of this wood pallets easily absorb fluids and bacteria. This generates serious food sanitation risks - especially where Listeria, E. Coli and Salmonella are a concern.
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  54% of wood pallets are used for only one shipment, and then either stored, burned, or thrown away.
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  Many of the toxic chemicals used in wood and plastic pallet sanitation are outlawed in the U.S., yet still find their way in every day aboard shipping containers and pallets.
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  Large plastic
  pallets used
  to ship, cool
  and store
  produce
  containing
  Decabromo-
  diphenyl
  Ether (Deca),
  a flame retardant
  chemical and
  known neurotoxin
  that can leach onto the fruits and vegetables stored on the shipping containers.