Companies across UK construction can claim a share of more than £1.5 million by returning bright green LOOP pallets for reuse, according to new figures released by The Pallet LOOP – the circular economy pallet reuse scheme for the construction sector that is part of BSW Group.
In its first six months, The Pallet LOOP has issued more than 450,000 of its distinctive green, reusable pallets to British Gypsum to transport its bagged plaster and plasterboard products. A financial incentive of up to £4 is available on each of these pallets when companies return them to The Pallet LOOP.
To date, The Pallet LOOP has paid out around £150,000 to users of the scheme including builders’ merchants, principal contractors and housebuilding companies – and the number of pallets being returned is growing month on month.
In October, the number of green pallets that The Pallet LOOP collected was around 30% of the number it issued that month. This figure already exceeds previous benchmarks for standard pallet return rates in the construction sector, which have historically hovered around the 10% mark.
Companies using The Pallet LOOP can also save money on waste costs, while cutting their carbon footprint and helping to reduce the unnecessary waste of a precious natural resource. So far, The Pallet LOOP estimates it has saved companies returning pallets up to £800,000 on skip costs. The Pallet LOOP has calculated that putting pallets in wood skips can cost up to £8 per pallet. Put that money together with the LOOP PayBack, and companies using The Pallet LOOP could be up to £12 better off for every green LOOP pallet that gets recovered for reuse – further increasing the financial incentive.
Paul Lewis, Founder of The Pallet LOOP, said: “Getting a financial reward for returning pallets, and saving on waste costs is good news for merchants, principal contractors and housebuilding companies up and down the country as they face fresh operational headwinds and get to grips with changes coming into force as part of the recent budget.
“From the start, our model was designed to be financially equitable for everyone in the building materials supply chain, as well as better for the environment. What we’ve achieved in the first six months shows our vision is now a reality. Companies returning green LOOP pallets are getting a real boost to their bottom line. They can also access sustainability data relating to the number of pallets they have returned via our Power Bi platform. We are delighted with the progress made to date. But this is just the start – with more LOOP pallets set to hit the sector in the year ahead.”
