New PDS Will Predict Performance Of Pallets Made with Used Parts

The Pallet Design System (PDS) is a computer design program developed by Virginia Tech, the National Wooden Pallet & Container Association, and the U.S. Forest Service to quickly and accurately predict the performance of new wood pallets. PDS has been upgraded annually since its original version in 1984. All of the previous upgrades, however, have continued to improve the accuracy of new pallet performance. So far, PDS has not been able to help pallet recyclers as they design and market used pallets. This will change with the 2002 version of PDS, which will predict the performance of pallets manufactured with used parts recovered from recycled pallets. The pallet recycling industry continues to experience rapid growth. In 1999, an estimated 299 million pallets were received by pallet recyclers for repair, reuse, or recycling — up from 171 million in 1995. One of the products of pallet recyclers is used pallet parts recovered from the disassembly of used pallets. These recovered parts can be used to make remanufactured pallets or combination (or ‘combo’) pallets. Remanufactured pallets are assembled entirely from recycled pallet parts. Combo pallets are assembled with a mixture of new and recycled parts. Remanufactured and combo pallets are environmentally friendly and are an efficient use of our wood resource. Surveys of PDS users have indicated that the ability to design these pallets Figure 1: Test set-up to measure flexural strength and stiffness of used pallet parts.