Pallets

During our building project here I've tried and failed to have wooden pallets removed by drivers making fresh deliveries. I don't understand, surely the builders merchant or other business could take good pallets and use them again, as opposed to buying new pallets, thus reducing costs?

Perhaps drivers could be incentivised to bring back good pallets, even if they weren't dropped off by their company originally. Even if the pallets were stored at a depot and not used for further deliveries, they'd be in a single location, in volume, and profitable for companies that specialise in pallet recycling/collection/supply.

Maybe you can tell I've just spent a day breaking up pallets..? Our neighbours have gratefully taken some, be it for the base of a dog kennel or to store straw bales on but the rest had to go and some will make good kindling.

There are of course enterprising folk out there who'll do a bit more with the average pallet: http://craftbritain.co.uk/2011/08/24/recycle-wooden-pallets/ 

According to the Environmental Information Exchange at the School of Life Sciences, Oxford Brookes University, approximately 12% of softwood used in the UK goes into the manufacture of pallets and other packaging. There are thought to be around 2 billion pallets in circulation worldwide and as many as 90 million in the UK alone (Brighton and Hove Wood Recycling Project).

The Environment Agency estimates that the UK produces 7.5 million tonnes of wood waste each year, with over 80% disposed in landfill sites, despite the fact that much of it is reusable. 

Have you heard of WRAP? I hadn't but you'd probably recognise their 'recycle now' campaign. They look at the wood recycling issue closely; it turns out there's a market for recycled wood! And of course there's an industry body; I wonder if a member of the Wood Recyclers' Association would take our scrap wood pile, and what (unlike the healthy scrap metal supply/demand relationship) it would cost..?