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WISP Case Study: Recycling Pallets

3 March 2020

WISP Case Study: Recycling Pallets

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The Western Cape Industrial Symbiosis Programme (WISP), delivered by GreenCape, develops mutually profitable links between companies from all industrial sectors, so that under-utilised resources such as energy and water, and/or materials from one company can be recovered, reprocessed and re-used by others.

Raw materials are often delivered on wood pallets, wrapped in plastic. Many companies are aware that the plastic component can be recycled, but are unaware that wood pallets can be remanufactured and re-used, and as a result end up in landfills. To solve this issue, WISP connected Enviroserve, one of the largest waste management companies in South Africa and ComboTimber, a small family owned company that remanufactures timber packaging material into wood pallets for re-sale. This connection meant Enviroserve’s clients’ on site waste management practises were changed to allow for collection of their broken wood pallets.

This resulted in the following economic benefits:

  • R29 000 achieved in cost savings by diverting wood from landfill.
  • R174 000 generated in additional revenue via the sale of remanufactured wood pallets.
  • R100,000 invested by Combo Timber Structures for new equipment to deal with increased wood volumes.

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