In June, people across the planet celebrate World Environment Day which encourages awareness and action to protect our environment. RPS doesn’t miss the opportunity to engage with this, especially as our purpose is to take the hassle out of pallets and the impact they have on the world around us.
This year’s World Environment Day theme is air pollution and how, as the world’s population, we can reduce and eventually prevent it. Although you can’t see it, air pollution is everywhere, and most of us are exposed to amounts which exceed World Health Organisation safe levels.
You may remember in 2017 we celebrated our 15th anniversary, and to mark the occasion we planted a grove of 15 trees in the Caledonian Forest, with the help of the charity Trees for Life.
While a fitting way to celebrate a milestone, we also hope that our trees can contribute to the reduction of pollution in the air. Trees are able to clean the air and absorb harmful airborne particles and gaseous pollutants, improving the air quality in the microclimate around the trees, and contributing to a cleaner environment overall. Trees also soak up the harmful carbon dioxide in our atmosphere. As well as cleaning the air for us, they also provide us with fresh oxygen.
On a national basis, our pallet collection service contributes to the reduction of air pollution. We apply the waste hierarchy to all used wooden pallets we handle, encouraging reuse and preventing trees being needlessly felled for replacement new pallets. Globally, an estimated 40 per cent of waste is openly burned and this can release harmful dioxins and black carbon into the atmosphere.
We are champions of sustainability and reuse is by far the most sustainable way to make the most out of an existing product. After reuse, if a pallet is excessively damaged we will send it for chipping and recycling, usually into animal bedding or chipboard products. What’s more is we’re proud that none of the pallets we handle are sent to landfill, with remaining woodchip that cannot be recycled being used for renewable biomass fuel.
To minimise emissions, we take steps to reduce the carbon footprint of transporting pallets by utilising our Pallet Co-operative. Collection vehicles travel shorter distances, helping to reduce fuel consumption and emissions. Likewise, we offer an alternative to scrap pallet collections by collecting using a vehicle instead of a skip. This encourages reduce collection frequencies and again fewer emissions.
We hope everyone has a great World Environment Day and good luck helping to reduce air pollution.
If you are looking for a pallet collection company that is environmentally conscious, we would love to hear from you. Call 01642 465556 or tweet us @RPS_Limited.
