New materials for plastic pallet production

Environmental protection: refuse wooden pallet

The recent survey results of the Pallet Professional Committee of China Federation of logistics and procurement show that the annual growth of pallets in China is conservatively estimated to be no less than 20 million pieces. Among them, the occupancy of wooden pallets is more than 90%. According to statistics, a mature tree can only make 6-7 pallets, and the life of wooden pallets is relatively short, with an average of less than one and a half years.

The world's forests are rapidly decreasing at the rate of 17 million hectares per year, while China's current forest area only accounts for about 13% of the total land area. The per capita forest coverage is less than 1.6 mu, ranking 120th among 160 countries and regions. The contradiction between forest ownership and rapid economic development is increasingly prominent.

According to the statistics of the waste plastics Utilization Committee of China Plastics Association, the total amount of waste plastics in China has reached 70 million tons every year. These wastes include disposable packaging materials, hollow bottles, agricultural plastic films and industrial wastes. The treatment methods are usually landfill and incineration. Relevant research shows that the waste plastics can be decomposed more than 200 years after landfilling, and toxic substances will be dissolved in the decomposition process, causing damage to the soil; The incineration of waste plastics usually leads to the release of harmful gases, affecting the air quality and the surrounding environment.

Mature plastic wood composite tray

With the promotion of the worldwide environmental protection wave, new materials and new processes with environmental protection concepts have been promoted and used in pallet production. In addition, the market share of pallets produced by new materials and new processes is increasing year by year.

According to the information of the pallet Committee, other materials that can replace wooden pallets in the market are plastic pallets, metal pallets and composite pallets in order of market share. Among them, the production technology and application of plastic pallet and metal pallet have been relatively mature.

At present, the mature composite material is plastic wood composite material. It is to mix plastic and wood fiber (such as wood powder, rice husk, straw, etc.) in a certain proportion and then add a specific modifier. After high-temperature fusion, it extrudes a certain profile, and then it is combined to make a tray. Plastic wood pallet has the advantages of plastic pallet, such as anti-corrosion and easy cleaning, and also has the advantages of wood pallet, such as simple post-processing and low cost compared with plastic pallet. Its main performance indicators are shown in the following table:

Table 3: comparison of several pallets

Performance: plastic wood tray, wooden tray, plastic tray, metal tray

The cost of each use is the lowest, the cost is relatively low, and the cost is relatively low

Stability of structural dimensions: stable, unstable, stable, stable

High strength, generally high

High and low moisture resistance

Water absorption: no high no

Pollution: no high no

High and low security

Customer customized size: fixed at will and relatively fixed

Table 3 lists the performance comparison of several pallets. In addition to being more durable than wooden pallets, plastic wood composite pallets are cheaper than plastic pallets. The most fatal weakness of the plastic pallet is that it is not conducive to the storage of the warehouse shelves. At present, the common problem of the plastic pallet is that the rigidity of the pallet is not enough, and creep will occur when it is applied to the storage of the shelves. In addition, due to the injection molding process used in the production of plastic pallets, the development of different molds is a huge expense in the production process of plastic pallet manufacturers. Because of this, the production cost of plastic pallets has not been reduced.

Through the above comparison, it can be seen that the advantages of the new composite material are obvious. The application of composite materials in the production of pallets will greatly reduce the consumption of valuable wood resources in the production and use of traditional pallets. Its recyclable and reusable characteristics make it have more prominent performance price ratio and stronger adaptability, which makes it have a wider use space.