A green pallet for Portland

GreenLight Pallet Co., manufacturer of the UNIPAL 100 percent recyclable corrugated pallet system, in March announced plans to complete a manufacturing facility in Portland this May. Moving the production facilities from current locations in Korea and Spain could bring an estimated $250 million to Oregon’s economy, the copmpany says. As an increasing number of businesses aim to "green" their practices and streamline supply chains, GreenLight hopes to find itself welcome in progressive Portland, where it plans to purchase local materials and provide a new source for "green-collar" jobs.

A UNIPAL Pallet weighs 75 percent less than a wood pallet, repels water, can be made from 100 percent recycled cardboard and is fully recyclable at the end of its lifespan.  According to the company, the actual content of recycled material is up to the corrugators but most use 50 percent recycled materials.  Some, such as Pratt Industries, use 100 percent recycled content. 

“Each production line will use 172 million square feet of corrugation per year, which means jobs at the mills, warehouse staff, truck drivers, engineers and manufacturing jobs to build equipment,” says GreenLight spokesperson Christina Casanueva. “The residual of what we are doing will affect hundreds of people.”

Each facility requires multiple manufacturing systems, and each system at the Portland facility will employ 35 people plus supervisors. The company projects that 175,000 pallets intended for use in the U.S. will be produced each month. Due to rising fuel costs, the company is planning 53 locations to service the U.S. manufacturing industry and maintaine a 150-mile proximity to its customers. The company plans to target seaport cities with heavy-manufacturing bases including Seattle, San Francisco, Sacramento and Los Angeles as future West-coast locations. 

One week after this announcement Orlando-based plastic pallet maker iGPS announced that PepsiCo's (NYSD: PEP) Quaker, Gatorade, and Tropicana will begin integrating 100 percent recycleable pallets into their supply chains.