CocoPallets are 100% bio-based and fully circular. (Credit: Cocopallet.com)
Every year 1.7 billion wooden pallets are being used to ship goods from Asia to the rest of the world, according to an article on Brightvibes.com. That means 170 million trees are cut down to make single-use, one-way export pallets for just that market alone. Most of these trees are cut down far away in places like Canada and New Zealand because there is a shortage of timber in Southeast Asia. But they do have coconuts. Millions of them. CocoPallet is a sustainable, affordable, bio-based and biodegradable, 100% wood-free alternative to traditional export pallets — and made from coconut waste!
Netherlands-based CocoPallet International has developed a sustainable and cost competitive Export Pallet made from Coconut Waste. CocoPallet is 100% bio-based. It replaces timber pallets and prevents logging and transportation of millions of trees.
Around 5 billion timber pallets are produced annually, causing the deforestation of 500 million trees per year.
Most of those trees are cut down far away in places like Canada and New Zealand because there is a shortage of timber in Southeast Asia.
Meanwhile, each year some 7.4 billion coconuts are harvested worldwide, and most of the value of the coconut is to be found inside. Around 85% of the unwanted hairy husk is either being burned, thrown in the ocean, or piled up to create giant biohazard.
Amsterdam-based CocoPallet set out to solve one problem with the other and developed a technique to use not only the tough fibres of the coconut husk, but also the lignin (a complex organic polymer deposited in the cell walls of many plants, making them rigid and woody), as a binder. This natural “glue” means they can produce durable products without the use of expensive and toxic synthetic resins. Alternatives such as Press Wood Pallets are expensive and not bio-based as they contain synthetic resins.
Renault Life with CocoPallet Sustainable export pallets
