The sustainability debate of wood vs. plastic pallets, circular economy seen as lagging, and more
Catching up on interesting news and innovations in production, packaging and more
Wood vs. plastic: Which pallets are more sustainable?
An estimated two billion pallets are used daily in the United States, 95% of which are made of wood. However, plastic is gaining market share, holding one third of the market. Manufacturers of both categories have boasted environmental benefits of their substrate – in fact the debate has raged on for well over a decade. This is a result of pressure to be more environmentally friendly due to increased attention to ESG practices.
Pallets made of wood have an overall low carbon footprint and are reused, repaired and eventually recycled, becoming animal bedding, mulch, biofuel, or wood pellets. Plastic pallets, on the other hand, are reused a lot more than wood and then ground into plastic flake to be made into packaging products, bulk bins or new pallets. Some pallets made of recycled plastic are even recovered from coastal environments. A life-cycle study concluded that wood had a slight edge over plastic as a sustainable pallet solution, namely due to the overall carbon footprint, but ultimately, it’s more about the system than the pallet. Source: packagingdive.com.
A resurgence for RFID?
Radio Frequency Identification, or RFID, technology has experienced many ups and downs in popularity among retailers in the past two decades and has seen a resurgence in the past few years. RFID is well established with retail back-end operations, but now it is seeing increased interest from front-end operations as well. This is due to the struggles retailers have experienced as fallout from the pandemic, including rising inflation, a highly competitive e-commerce market, labor shortages, and a significant reduction in profits compared to the previous year.
While large retailers have turned to new technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI) to enhance operations, many small to mid-sized retailers have found barriers to adoption due to high deployment costs of AI and other automation technologies. Enter RFID – a technology that has made substantial advancements and improvements in inventory management’s read range, accuracy, and reader performance, while costs have significantly decreased. Even Walmart has jumped aboard, mandating the use of RAIN RFID tags for items beyond apparel. Source: packworld.com.
New research: 8 out of 10 packaging professionals are unconvinced by supply chain sustainability
A survey on sustainable packaging conducted at a packaging conference in Texas earlier this year found that most global brand leaders don’t think their business’s supply chain is as sustainable as it could be or is not sustainable at all. In addition, the survey found that one in five leaders don’t know if they are on track to meet sustainability goals for the year, with packaging still a major focus of their concerns.
Most brand leaders don’t feel they have enough data (or don’t have any at all) on the environmental impact of their packaging and feel that a circular economy is more than 20 years away – some even say it will take 50 years. The report concludes that brands must do a better job tracking their packaging so they can use that data to make better packaging decisions earlier in order to have control over what enters our waste streams.
Overall, experts are deeply concerned about the road to packaging sustainability. Source: packagingtechtoday.com.
Man or machine: What is AI?
A survey of 1,000 employees in the United States found that more than half welcome AI to help them in the workplace, but a majority (80%) of American workers want AI to be instantly recognizable as machines. In addition, 81% of workers said they want to ensure a “human-in-command” approach, putting humans at the center of robotics and automation.
As an example, U.S. automotive manufacturers are already investing in robotics and collaborative applications for assembly and finishing tasks to help master this transition. Most of these workers (70%) appreciate that robots are taking on the dangerous and dirty jobs – and many see robotics as a way to upskill and secure better-paying jobs. However, about one in five workers are still worried about the special training needed to use them.
As an advisory board member of the organization leading the study aptly noted, “We need to actively manage the transition to good collaboration between machines and humans, making sure that people are not left behind.” Source: controldesign.com.
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