Heat treated pallets

Heat treated pallets are pallets that are heated to a high temperature of 140 degrees for a minimum duration of half an hour.

The pallets are originally made of wood material which comes from an organic source – trees.

Heat treated pallets are made to help to stamp out insects, wood diseases and other forms of pests that may come into contact with the pallets.

Normal pallets do not have that advantage.

Heat treatment of pallets is part of the phyto-sanitary process to curb the introduction of pests of plants and trees.

Benefits of heat treated pallets

Heat treated pallets are good because they can be reused after once to facilitate international goods shipment.

Because once the insects and other pests are killed off, it becomes harder for the spread of such unwanted pests on the pallets.

Normal pallets without heat treatment may be subject to risks of wooden parts being eaten off by such pests, or decay by other unknown sources.

There are other benefits of heat treated pallets.

They help to decrease the moisture content and make the pallets lighter in weight and hence, the freight costs cheaper.

They help in handling safety through the minimisation of chemical-related health risks.

They also help to preserve the life span of wood. But more importantly, they reduce transmission risks of parasites or cross-contaminated goods across territories.

Heat treated pallet applications

In some countries like Canada, it is required by law for pallets to be compliant with ISPM15 standards.

This means that the pallets have to be heat treated in order to ship the products overseas.

Once successful heat treatment is applied, the pallets will be certified with approved IPPC stamp that is in compliance with ISPM15 standards.

During imports of products using pallets, there are documentations to prove that the pallets are certified. Without them, the products do risk quarantine or rejection of entry at the customs.

Companies shipping products using wood packaging mainly normally require heat treated pallets for shipment use.

Industries which are most certainly using heat treated pallets are food and pharmaceutical ones. This is because they have to prevent any risks of mouth intake infections more urgently.

Standard size pallets

Standard size pallets are pallets which are usually 48″ x 40″ in dimensions. They are also called GMA pallets. Next common forms of standard size pallets are 42” and 48” square sizes.

Like normal pallets, standard size pallets are normally made of wood and plastic.

Benefits of standard size pallets

Standard size pallets can help to make operations in pallet racking easier. They also help in warehousing storage solutions.

Manual handling by human labour can be dramatically reduced with the use of standard size pallets.

Also, worker injury can be mitigated if standard size pallets are handled properly.

Standard size pallet applications

In situations of unrefrigerated docks, standard size pallets can help to reduce the risk of temperature exposure effect on perishable goods, such as food and medicine.

Standard size pallets are normally used for food grocery industries. Cement and military industries also use them frequently.