Plastic pallets are well known for their durability and long life span, yet when they eventually come to the end of their long service life or when they are no longer required, disposing of them can be a challenge for some businesses.

This situation was very familiar to EDME Food Ingredients, who specialises in creating natural flours, mixes and grains for the bakery sector, until they found out last year about Goplasticpallets.com’s plastic pallet recycling scheme.

EDME started using plastic pallets some nine years ago when they placed their first order with Goplasticpallets.com for its recycled polypropylene Qpall 1210 HR 5R pallet. These strong, heavy duty plastic pallets are used by EDME for the storage and distribution of their food ingredients, since the majority of their customers request that their goods are delivered only on plastic pallets.

Once the customer receives and unloads its consignment, EDME collects the empty plastic pallets and returns them to its warehouse, ready for reuse, and repeats the cycle. However, when the plastic pallets were reaching the end of their service life, EDME was having varying degrees of success disposing of them. In some instances, they were giving them away, just to be rid of them, or having to pay for their disposal. That is until they heard about Goplasticpallets.com’s recycling scheme.

This pioneering plastic pallet recycling scheme guarantees to retrieve and recycle each and every plastic pallet, and box, that the company supplies to its customers, removing the hassle and expense of disposing of them themselves.

Lynne Smith, Transport Manager for EDME Food Ingredients, said: “In March last year, we were able to use this recycling scheme for the first time where we returned our expired plastic pallets to Goplasticpallets.com. This is a terrific service and we are fully supportive of the scheme.

“Previous to this, retired plastic pallets were a challenge to dispose of and in some cases, we were paying to dispose of them. With this scheme not only are we confident that any expired plastic pallets are being managed in a responsible manner, but we get a reasonable recompense for them. This is a scheme that I am happy to be part of and will continue to be part of.”

Not only does EDME champion the company’s plastic pallet recycling scheme, the food ingredients specialist has also increased its return rate thanks to advice from Goplasticpallets.com.

Lynne, commented: “We have a range of customers who for various reasons fail to return our plastic pallets in a timely manner, which puts pressure on our pallet flow and causes peaks and troughs that can have a knock on effect with production – not having the correct pallet when required. This is where Goplasticpallets.com has helped us out again. They now brand our plastic pallets (improving the rate of return) and deliver them to us, sometimes as quickly as within 24 hours!”

If you have expired or unwanted plastic pallets or boxes, simply visit www.goplasticpallets.com/recycling to sign up to Goplasticpallets.com’s recycling scheme, or for expert advice call 01323 744057 or email your enquiry to: recycling@goplasticpallets.com.