CHEP launches first-ever CarbonNeutral pooled platform in North America

CHEP, a Brambles company, announced today that its 40x24 inch pooled (shared and reused) half pallets have achieved carbon neutral status. This makes CHEP’s half pallet the first and only CarbonNeutral certified pooled platform in North America. The announcement came during a retailer-manufacturer session on retail merchandising strategies, featuring executives from a regional supermarket company and CHEP, at the FMI-GMA Trading Partner Alliance (TPA) Supply Chain Conference in Orlando. CarbonNeutral certification is based on the CarbonNeutral Protocol, a sustainability program used to certify and communicate carbon neutral status.

“With the carbon neutral half pallet, CHEP helps customers embed sustainability throughout their supply chain,” said Mark LaCroix, Executive Vice President of the Americas, Natural Capital Partners. “This CarbonNeutral certified platform demonstrates the action businesses can take to reduce their carbon footprint and have a positive impact on the environment. We are pleased to see a practical, groundbreaking solution that helps companies move closer to circular, more resilient supply chains.”

As a circular and reusable solution, CHEP carbon neutral half pallets incorporate sustainability into everyday business practices.

“When we introduced our pooled half pallet in 2014, it was an instant marketplace success thanks to its ability to cut labor costs and increase sales,” said Vishal Patell, Vice President of Marketing and Customer Solutions, CHEP North America. “Now, as a carbon neutral platform, the half pallet delivers as a true circular supply chain solution, helping to protect our planet without compromising profit.”

While CHEP’s pooled half pallets are inherently sustainable, to “close the sustainability loop,” the company calculates the carbon footprint of the platform, and then purchases carbon offset credits from Natural Capital Partners, a leading offset retailer. The credits benefit the Mississippi Alluvial Valley Reforestation Project, an effort supporting an important North American eco-system. The project will reduce an estimated 200 metric tons of CO2 equivalent per acre, create revenue and jobs and improve water quality and biodiversity. To date, CHEP has offset 926 metric tons (2.1 million pounds) of carbon emissions, equivalent to planting a variety of approximately 3,000 hardwood trees.

Immediately recognized as a “game-changing” solution, CHEP’s carbon neutral half pallet won the Environmental Initiative of the Year Award at Industrial Pack 2018 earlier this month. The half pallet is not only a winner for sustainability – it’s also a proven winner in a number of areas: CHEP half pallets give companies the opportunity to reduce in-store labor costs by up to 75%; increase the sale of promotional items by as much as 30%; improve distribution center efficiency by more than 25%; and boost in-store efficiency by over 75%.

In addition to the industry-leading platform announcement, CHEP’s TPA 2018 activities include:
—Customer tours of the CHEP Innovation Center and Pallet Test Track.
—Presentations and collaborative sessions with manufacturers and retailers on best practices for reducing unsaleables and for building, handling and transporting unit loads.