ORLANDO, Fla.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Setting a new standard for platform sustainability, 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.
About Natural Capital Partners
Natural Capital Partners is a world-leading provider of innovative solutions for positive impact on the world’s natural capital. With more than 300 clients in 34 countries, Natural Capital Partners delivers high-quality solutions for carbon emissions measurement and reductions, renewable energy, water stewardship, building supply chain resilience and protecting biodiversity.
CarbonNeutral® is a trademark of Natural Capital Partners and is a global standard to demonstrate that businesses have measured and reduced their CO2 emissions to net zero for their company, products, operations or services in accordance with The CarbonNeutral Protocol. Natural Capital Partners was founded in 1997 and has offices in London and New York.
About CHEP
CHEP is a global provider of supply chain solutions serving the consumer goods, fresh food, beverage, manufacturing and retail sectors in more than 60 countries. CHEP offers a wide range of logistics and operational platforms and support services that are designed to increase performance and lower risk while improving environmental sustainability. CHEP’s 11,500-plus employees and more than 275 million pallets and containers deliver comprehensive coverage and exceptional value, supporting more than 500,000 customer touch-points for global brands such as Procter & Gamble, Kellogg’s and Nestlé. CHEP is part of the Brambles Group, the operator of a portfolio that includes specialized container solutions for the food, beverage and automotive sectors, as well as IFCO, the leading provider of Reusable Plastic Containers (RPCs) to the fresh food supply chain globally.
For more information, visit the company’s website at www.chep.com or follow us on Twitter @CHEPna or LinkedIn. Please also check out our YouTube channel.
