Cargo Business Newswire

.dwuser_maximenu_content_holder { overflow: scroll !important; } Powered by DWUser.com - Flash Menus, Drop down menus, popup menus and Dreamweaver Extensions

Friday, November 4, 2011

Top Story

Ikea to trade in wood pallets for cardboard

Photo credit: courtesy of Luis Enrique Ascui/Bloomberg

Scandinavia’s Ikea is going to ditch the 10 million wood pallets it uses each year for a new cardboard-based, more environmentally sustainable platform it has developed; expecting to save 10 percent on transportation costs, the global furniture retailer says.

“We don’t know if the paper pallet will be the ultimate solution, but it’s better than wood,” said Jeanette Skjelmose, sustainability manager at Ikea’s supply-chain unit in a Businessweek story.

Billions of wood pallets have been de rigueur in storage and distribution for fifty years.

Ikea’s new design is made up of folded corrugated-card, can handle up to 1,650 pounds like its wooden counterpart, is one third the height, 90 percent lighter, and should save $193 million per year in transport costs, the retailer says.

We hope this will be a start in making transportation systems smarter and freight as compact as possible,” Skjelmose told Businessweek.

For the full Businessweek story: www.businessweek.com