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Abstract:

The article examines the environmental impacts related to eco-innovative plastic pallets in reference to conventional plastic pallets through cradle-to-gate life cycle assessment (LCA). The product eco-innovations involve replacement of high-density polyethylene (HDPE) that the plastic pallets are made of by postconsumer polyethylene (r-PE) (in 30% and 50%), whereas the business process eco-innovations (related to production process) involve replacing fossil energy with renewable energy (in 50%). The study illustrates that both product eco-innovative and production process ecoinnovative plastic pallet offers considerable environmental benefits compared to conventional ones. Ad exemplum, if plastic pallets are made of post-consumer polyethylene (r-PE), their environmental impacts can be lowered in the range of: 1.8% (human toxicity) – 43.2% (fossil depletion). If renewable energy is included in the manufacturing process, the environmental savings are up to 91% in the category of freshwater eutrophication. The research proves that, in the near future, the eco-innovative plastic pallets can constitute an interesting complement of the commonly used wooden pallets.

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Are Plastic Pallets so Detrimental To The Environment Indeed? Life Cycle Assessment of Eco-innovative Plastic Pallet Solutions