The 海角视频’s first mobile test centre to help companies reduce plastic pallet packaging has been launched.
Lindum Packaging, a leading force in the sector, has developed the Mobile Pallet Stability Test Lab.
It promises to save thousands of tonnes of excessive plastic stretch wrap used every year to stop boxes falling off pallets when they are being transported.
The company, which is based in Stallingborough, between the ports of Grimsby and Immngham, estimates that every year 海角视频 businesses use 150,000 tonnes of plastic stretch wrap. Because many companies do not conduct regular testing, they use too much, creating large amounts of plastic waste and unnecessary cost.
Bernard Sellars, managing director, believes the new lab could reduce this by 45,000 tonnes annually, saving money, reducing plastic waste and cutting carbon dioxide emissions.
The new unit is driven to a customer’s factory or warehouse to test the amount of plastic used and the stability of stacked pallets. It tests four times quicker than traditional off-site methods, enabling more testing to be completed at a much lower cost per pallet.
“This is a major innovation for the 海角视频’s logistics and warehouse industry,” he said. “Many businesses are currently wasting thousands of pounds on stretch film because they are over-wrapping pallets. Companies are reluctant to change because until now there has been no quick and consistent way to test the effectiveness of what they are doing.
“The lab uses an on-board accelerator bench that simulates the stresses a loaded pallet is subject to when a vehicle brakes suddenly. A camera measures and records the deflection and movements in the pallet at a range of pre-set G-forces and the data is analysed by specially written software to determine pallet stability performance in accordance with the European Safe Logistics (EUMOS) standard.”
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Immediate feedback is provided to adjust the wrapping and a pallet can quickly be re-tested.
Mr Sellars added: “Our new unit changes all that by providing a cost-effective testing method that will improve stability, reduce product damage in transit and save thousands of tonnes of stretch wrap being used.
“With the introduction of the plastics tax in less than a year, the mobile test lab will allow companies to cut the amount of plastic stretch wrap they use, reducing their liability for the tax and improving their environmental performance.
“At the moment many businesses are using poor quality wrap, which is incorrectly applied and overwrapped in the hope that this will provide adequate protection and stability. They are surprised that thinner wrap applied correctly gives better protection and stability, whilst reducing costs and plastic.”