The Pallet LOOP is celebrating after picking up a Sustainability Award from Willmott Dixon at the construction company’s 2023 North West Supply Chain Awards. The award – which was given out under the heading, ‘Sustainability – Now or Never’ – recognises the calibre of the pallet collection service that The Pallet LOOP delivered to Willmott Dixon during 2022, and the financial and environmental benefits the scheme is delivering.

 Over the last twelve months, The Pallet LOOP has collected almost 4,000 single use ‘white’ pallets from Willmott Dixon sites in the North West of England – diverting them from wood skips. As a result of this collaboration, The Pallet LOOP estimates that Willmott Dixon has reduced site waste volumes by more than 750m3, saved an estimated £10,000 in waste disposal costs, and prevented nearly half a tonne of CO2 emissions in this region alone. Nationwide the numbers are even more striking. To date, The Pallet LOOP has collected more than 27,000 pallets from over 70 Willmott Dixon sites across the UK. That’s an estimated 5,500m3 reduction in waste; a staggering £78,000 saving in waste disposal costs; plus a drop in CO2 emissions of over three tonnes.

 The Pallet LOOP has started picking up single use white pallets ahead of the roll out of its distinctive green circular economy pallets – which are due to enter the building materials supply chain later this year. The back end of the service is already proving incredibly popular with principal contractors and housebuilders, who are left to dispose of pallets once they have been used to transport building materials to sites.

 Charlie Law, Head of Construction and ESG at The Pallet LOOP, picked up the award at a ceremony hosted in Manchester on Thursday 2nd March. Commenting he said:

“Switching on our collection service before releasing our green pallets into the sector, is the first step in the operational roadmap of The Pallet LOOP. It might seem strange that we’re collecting white pallets, which our multi-use green pallets are ultimately designed to replace. However, it does make sense. Conscious that switching to a circular economy distribution model will require a shift in mindset, we wanted to get the back end of our service up and running so the sector starts to see pallets differently.”

 “For too many years, the disposal of pallets has proved problematic. They are notorious for cluttering up building sites and normally end up in skips, which is costly on many levels. Our green pallets will change all that. Reverse engineering our model and getting collections going now will help the sector get in the habit of stacking pallets for collection and booking a pick-up. It’s a simple change, that will make a huge difference to the success of our green pallet scheme; the delivery of net-zero emissions and waste; and the bottom line of construction businesses nationwide. We’re delighted that the likes of Willmott Dixon are already gaining so much from this service.”

 Anthony Dillon, Willmott Dixon Managing Director in the North West, said:

“Congratulations to Pallet LOOP, worthy winners of our sustainability award. The work of Pallet LOOP has contributed to Willmott Dixon reducing absolute construction waste by 58% since 2012, which is a significant output of our Now or Never strategy that guides our sustainable development approach.”