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Plastic or wood pallet choice prompts questions, confusion

Recent LinkedIn discussions raise questions about pallet choices. Tylenol recall adds another dimension to the issue.

iStock_pallets
iStock_pallets

 Healthcare Packaging Publisher Jim Chrzan followed a recent LinkedIn conversation in which packaging professionals professed concerns about potential regulatory matters pertaining to the use of plastic or wood pallets.

In the conversation, a contract packager (CP) lamented that different customers have different interpretations of packaging law regarding the use of plastic pallets for packaging materials before they go into a packaging room. The CP person noted that such a law would require workers to manually transfer materials from wooden pallets to plastic pallets, adding labor costs and increasing the potential for worker injuries. A LinkedIn respondent in Europe indicated that Australia stopped using wooden pallets years ago, suggesting that the European Union was considering the same tact.

The U.S. Dept. of Agriculture provides information on the Intl. Standards for Phytosanitary Measures Guidelines for Regulating Wood Packaging Material in International Trade (ISPM15).

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