Companies that use pallets to transport cargo are in the middle of a “pallet war” between the manufacturers of wooden pallets, who think they have the eco-friendly solution and the plastic pallet manufacturer who believe the same. This week it is PALNET, advocates of the wooden pallet, who are making their argument. PALNET says that recycling wooden pallets not only helps to cut down on the use of natural resources, it keeps tons of usable assets out of our already overcrowded landfills. Wooden pallets are made from the excess trim of the lumbering process. That makes the manufacturing of wooden pallets actually an environmental plus because it uses waste instead of creating it. At the end of their life, our wooden pallets are ground up into garden mulch.

Of course, there are others that disagree. Orlando-based Intelligent Global Pooling Systems (iGPS) has new plastic pallets that are 30 percent lighter than wooden pallets, are fire-retardant, immune to insects and mold, and are RFID tagged. The company says that their pallets are good for the environment and that lighter pallets mean better less weight and less fuel for transport, plus the pallet is totally recyclable.