What are Heat Treated Pallets?

Heat treated pallets are necessary for all wood packaging materials used in worldwide shipping. One of the required steps for guaranteeing the safety of not only the materials being shipped, but also the environments of the product’s final port of call, is heat treatment.

These pallets are made out of organic material – the everlasting tree. Trees do not grow in sterile settings. The ground they grow out of, the air that surrounds them, and the water they soak up are not only full of nutrient filled materials, but also a multitude of pests. These pests, whether matured or in larval phase, are, regrettably, far to often transported from one place of the world to another in the pallet wood they dwell in. Consequently governments, conservationists, and pallet manufacturers have devised a variety of ways to kill them throughout the pallet manufacturing stage, so they aren’t going to be introduced in areas they did not come from and don’t belong.

What Exactly is Heat Treatment?

It is a Phyto-sanitary method created by the IPPC, a treaty accepted by the WTO and managed by the FAO.

Throughout this process, the pallets, crates, or boxes getting treated are heated to a center temperature of one hundred and forty degrees for at least half an hour. This guarantees that all pests and larvae are going to be eradicated, whereupon the pallet can be used and re-used for shipping goods around the world. After a pallet has been heat treated, it is stamped with an internationally accepted image in which allows for more effective transportation of products.

Heat Treated Pallets

Heat treated pallets are more stable than standard pallets, use fewer resources, are stamped for worldwide shipping, hinder the spreading of intrusive species, are more endurable and weigh less, and more environmentally mindful than standard wood pallets.

Standard Pallets

Standard pallets can’t be used for worldwide shipping, are burdensome, and still have the wood’s natural moisture. Meaning they not only rot more quickly, they also are not as stable as heat treated pallets. The insufficient usefulness and short-lived life of standard pallets, combined with extra shipping expenses from the additional weight, make them unfit for business and impossible to use for international trade.

Advantages of Heat-Treated Pallets

International shipping accommodating

Heat treated pallets get a ISPM-15 stamp, making the pallet compliant for shipping goods across the world. Pallets that do not have the ISPM-15 stamp might be held at port of entry creating delays in transport or rejected altogether.

Less resistant to mold and bacteria

Mold flourishes in moist setting, and wood is a porous material that soaks up moisture. Whereas mold might not damage the wood much, it could transfer to the products that the wood pallet carries. Heat treating wood is going to draw out the moisture from it and make it more moisture resistant.

Reduced weight

Since the moisture dampness is decreased by the heat treatment method, the pallets appear lighter. It most likely is not going to make much of a difference when you are shipping just 1 or 2 full pallets, but the savings can add up when you’re shipping multiple at once.

Eco-friendliness

By preserving the wood ideally and making it pest resistant, the heat treatment method can make wood pallets durable enough to be reused time and time again. You not only decrease waste, you also save on expenses down the road.

Disadvantages of Heat Treatment

Added expenses

One of the biggest disadvantages to using heat treated pallets is their cost. The process adds more expenses on top of the cost of regular wood packaging.

Sourcing

Not all companies that ship are able to offer heat treated pallets. You might have to do additional research and look around for one that offers this option.