Avery Dennison switches to Tosca’s plastic pallets to cut supply chain emissions

24 Nov 2022 --- Avery Dennison Labels and Packaging Materials (LPM) is partnering with Tosca, a reusable plastic packaging and pooling solutions provider, to switch to plastic pallets for reducing CO2 emissions. Avery Dennison LPM aims to switch a substantial portion of its product distribution across the continent to plastic pallets to save over 800 metric tons of CO2 emissions from its European supply chain annually.

Avery Dennison explains that plastic pallets are more durable than their wooden counterparts, as they can be reused more often and are less prone to breakages which can help reduce the risk of damage and waste in the supply chain. Tosca estimates that its plastic pallets can be used over 100 times and will be recycled at their end-of-life.

“This is an exciting development for Tosca in the non-food industry and one we are confident will be a huge success. We look forward to collaborating with Avery Dennison and their partner network in the years ahead and seeing how much CO2 emission reductions can be achieved together,” Eric Frank, CEO at Tosca tells PackagingInsights.

Violeta Gómez, central packaging leader at Avery Dennison, comments: “The pooling program has been a success in Ireland and is helping us to reduce our carbon footprint and eliminate waste within the supply chain. Customers appreciate that plastic pallets offer standard quality: they are cleaner (dust-free) and have less risk of damaging their products.”

“Avery Dennison’s and Tosca’s plastic pallet pooling vision doesn’t stop after the pallets arrive at the customer. We encourage customers to take the chance to extend the pooling program further down the supply chain to end-users and help grow the ecosystem further,” she continues.

Plastic pallets are more durable than their wooden counterparts, as they can be reused more often and are less likely to break. Pallet plans
The partnership with Tosca will cover the distribution of materials from Avery Dennison factories and distribution centers across the EU, UK, Norway, Switzerland and Turkey.

Deployments will gradually phase in over the following year, asserts Avery Dennison. The agreement allows the company’s network of partners to join the pooling program under favorable terms to cover the onward freight of finished materials to brands and other end users.

Tosca operates under a pooling model that delivers clean empty pallets from its service centers across Europe to Avery Dennison sites. The service is fully managed, with pallets inspected and washed after every rotation by Tosca.

Reusable plastic packaging and reusable plastic pallets also offer other advantages in areas that can directly impact environmental sustainability, for example, loading efficiency and weight, asserts Tosca.

Reusable plastic pallets are robust by design and uniform in size, shape, and weight, thus can be stacked and loaded more efficiently, making better use of the storage and transport space. This results in fuller truckloads, reducing the number of trips needed, and saving fuel and CO2 emissions.

At the end of every year, Avery Dennison and its customers participating in the pooling program will receive a CO2 emissions reduction certificate. Tosca predicts that Avery Dennison could save 819 metric tons of CO2 emissions annually by switching all its Euro-sized wooden pallets (1200x800mm) to the plastic alternative.

The program has been trialed for almost one year for shipments from Avery Dennison’s distribution center in Dublin, Ireland, to customers in the country.

By Natalie Schwertheim

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