MMH Pallet Survey Results: Wood Still Dominates at 84%

Modern Materials Handling has announced the results of their latest reader pallet survey.

Not surprisingly, wood continues to dominate at 84% of usage, with plastic pallet usage at 8% and metal pallets at 2%.

Looking back at an earlier MMH pallet survey in 2000, wood pallets accounted for 91% of pallets purchased, down from 97% on the 1997 MMH survey. It is difficult to make an apples to apples comparison without looking at the surveys in more detail, but it seems a safe assumption that alternative material pallets are growing in popularity. During the same period, plastic pallet sales went from 2% on the 1997 survey up to 4% in the 2000 survey – now pegged at 8% of usage.

“While alternative pallets are still niche products,” notes Bob Trebilcock of MMH, “33% of our readers are using some plastic pallets, 15% are using some type of wood composite pallet, and 10% are using some corrugated/cardboard pallets for some applications.”

Another obvious trend close to our heart here at www.packagingrevolution.net, is the amount of pallet reuse reported. Around 71% of respondents stated they were using pallets more than one time (averaging 7.5 times).

Bob, who knows the pallet industry well, as a number of informative reports on pallets in the September issue of Modern Materials Handling. Visit www.mmh.com.