Plastic pallets instead of boxes

[storewanderer]

In 99 Only today they had a couple pallets of "BIG" Paper Towels (on sale for .9999) on pallets. What was interesting is these pallets had the paper towels bundled in super thick plastic wrap instead of in boxes (this brand used to come in cardboard boxes), the towels were bundled like 8 to a super thick plastic. Then the pallet was wrapped in layers and layers of thin plastic film as pallets typically are.

I just find it funny how many things that used to be paper are suddenly now using single use plastic and this new single use plastic for these products has zero reuse potential. It could be recycled but I doubt they are recycling it.

I guess this is similar to pallets of bottled water where they pile up the bundles of water that are all wrapped in plastic and there is no cardboard at all on those pallets.

It would appear not using cardboard on pallets would cut down on weight and also probably make stocking more efficient. Sure plastic waste goes up but as long as customer-facing single use plastics are banned the environmentalists do not care one bit.

[BillyGr]

In 99 Only today they had a couple pallets of "BIG" Paper Towels (on sale for .9999) on pallets. What was interesting is these pallets had the paper towels bundled in super thick plastic wrap instead of in boxes (this brand used to come in cardboard boxes), the towels were bundled like 8 to a super thick plastic. Then the pallet was wrapped in layers and layers of thin plastic film as pallets typically are.

I just find it funny how many things that used to be paper are suddenly now using single use plastic and this new single use plastic for these products has zero reuse potential. It could be recycled but I doubt they are recycling it.

I guess this is similar to pallets of bottled water where they pile up the bundles of water that are all wrapped in plastic and there is no cardboard at all on those pallets.

It would appear not using cardboard on pallets would cut down on weight and also probably make stocking more efficient. Sure plastic waste goes up but as long as customer-facing single use plastics are banned the environmentalists do not care one bit.

Those types of wraps (around things like the towels you mention, water bottles and such) can be put in with plastic bags for recycling at stores (not sure where other places put such a bin, around here it's usually where you return deposit bottles but since not all states have deposits, they would have to find a different spot).

[ClownLoach]

In 99 Only today they had a couple pallets of "BIG" Paper Towels (on sale for .9999) on pallets. What was interesting is these pallets had the paper towels bundled in super thick plastic wrap instead of in boxes (this brand used to come in cardboard boxes), the towels were bundled like 8 to a super thick plastic. Then the pallet was wrapped in layers and layers of thin plastic film as pallets typically are.

I just find it funny how many things that used to be paper are suddenly now using single use plastic and this new single use plastic for these products has zero reuse potential. It could be recycled but I doubt they are recycling it.

I guess this is similar to pallets of bottled water where they pile up the bundles of water that are all wrapped in plastic and there is no cardboard at all on those pallets.

It would appear not using cardboard on pallets would cut down on weight and also probably make stocking more efficient. Sure plastic waste goes up but as long as customer-facing single use plastics are banned the environmentalists do not care one bit.

Those types of wraps (around things like the towels you mention, water bottles and such) can be put in with plastic bags for recycling at stores (not sure where other places put such a bin, around here it's usually where you return deposit bottles but since not all states have deposits, they would have to find a different spot).

I'm sure StoreWanderer will reply with more detail, but the odds are that none of this plastic is actually recyclable. The fact is that the majority of plastic can't be recycled, and in fact much of it such as these highly touted recyclable shopping bags actually foul recycling processes of the few items that can be recycled. My trash hauler says they won't take recycle if it's in bags because none of the bags can be recycled anywhere here despite the fact that they all have a recycle logo. Just because it has a recycle logo on it doesn't mean that anyone will recycle it. Most of our recycling was being sent to China where they would buy it but now they don't want to be a garbage can for America. The industry has done a good job of making consumers believe if it is plastic it is recyclable. That just isn't the case. I was in Canada a few years ago and they have a slightly different marking system where each recyclable has a code number. Pretty much one of the ten kinds of plastic could actually be recycled and the rest according to their sorting poster need to be put in the trash. This is a problem when considering aluminum and glass are always recyclable. I know I haven't led a store in a market yet that will accept pallet wrap in the recycling. Even if it is recyclable it jams and destroys mechanical sorting machines, and obviously human labor is hard to find/not affordable. Who wants to stand on an assembly line in a building with limited ventilation and no air conditioning where you have to use your gloved hands to sort sticky, smelly beer bottles from dirty diapers and syringes with needles that people kindly deposited in their recycle bin? But anything with plastic bags or wrap gets diverted to hand sort. If the labor isn't there for hand sort then guess what happens to that load? Right into the landfill.

[storewanderer]

Every store I've been involved with has thrown away pallet wrap plastic (very thin film) as well as, for instance, plastic shrink wrap that wraps cases of canned foods that are in boxes with no lid. I've never seen it recycled. This includes stores that collected plastic bags for recycling.

Cardboard boxes that have tape which are common in most non-grocery retail (plastic tape almost always of course) are another issue, I have been told in a couple instances that you need to get the tape off the box in order for the cardboard to be recyclable/go into the baler. Also that the baler can get screwed up/stuff stuck to it if you put boxes with "loose" or "hanging" tape into the baler. Stickers would also be an issue but I've never heard you need to peel stickers pre-baler. Many grocery boxes have glue instead of tape so that is not an issue.

As far as these super thick plastics go that had the 8 rolls of paper towels wrapped in them, I don't see why they couldn't be recycled in the same place as plastic bags, plastic shipping air pockets, etc. are collected for recycling.

Some cities like San Francisco collect plastic bags and the other thin film plastics for recycling (they still do this to this day) if you set them aside from your other recycling bundled together in a single plastic bag and isolate it/get it to a place where it can be recycled.

I only posted this because this is yet another example of the unintended consequences of these plastic bag bans. The plastic people just find other ways to sell EVEN MORE PLASTIC than ever before thanks to these regulations. Sure you have a few more people using paper bags instead of plastic bags so some chain like Wegman's or some state like New York can say they got rid of single use plastic bags for the environment but now the pulp/paper industry has capacity problems and prices have gone up so you have fast food chains like McDonalds and Wendy's who have taken and moved from paper cups to plastic cups on a bunch of cold drink products nationwide (plastic use exploding) and now these creative things going on with pallets where they figure out a way to wrap stuff in a bunch of plastic instead of put it in boxes on the pallet.

[BillyGr]

Those types of wraps (around things like the towels you mention, water bottles and such) can be put in with plastic bags for recycling at stores (not sure where other places put such a bin, around here it's usually where you return deposit bottles but since not all states have deposits, they would have to find a different spot).

I'm sure StoreWanderer will reply with more detail, but the odds are that none of this plastic is actually recyclable. The fact is that the majority of plastic can't be recycled, and in fact much of it such as these highly touted recyclable shopping bags actually foul recycling processes of the few items that can be recycled. My trash hauler says they won't take recycle if it's in bags because none of the bags can be recycled anywhere here despite the fact that they all have a recycle logo. Just because it has a recycle logo on it doesn't mean that anyone will recycle it. Most of our recycling was being sent to China where they would buy it but now they don't want to be a garbage can for America. The industry has done a good job of making consumers believe if it is plastic it is recyclable. That just isn't the case. I was in Canada a few years ago and they have a slightly different marking system where each recyclable has a code number. Pretty much one of the ten kinds of plastic could actually be recycled and the rest according to their sorting poster need to be put in the trash. This is a problem when considering aluminum and glass are always recyclable. I know I haven't led a store in a market yet that will accept pallet wrap in the recycling. Even if it is recyclable it jams and destroys mechanical sorting machines, and obviously human labor is hard to find/not affordable. Who wants to stand on an assembly line in a building with limited ventilation and no air conditioning where you have to use your gloved hands to sort sticky, smelly beer bottles from dirty diapers and syringes with needles that people kindly deposited in their recycle bin? But anything with plastic bags or wrap gets diverted to hand sort. If the labor isn't there for hand sort then guess what happens to that load? Right into the landfill.

Please READ - I said (as is now in BOLD) that YOU, the customer, put these items in a BIN SPECIFICALLY FOR THEM AT THE STORE, thus they are not doing what you suggest as they are NOT MIXED IN WITH REGULAR RECYCLABLES, either in the store or by customers putting them out at home.

There are actual posts referring to these recycled bags being what is used in making Trex (that "fake wood" that is often used for outdoor items, since it lasts much longer than many real wood items do).

[BillyGr]

Every store I've been involved with has thrown away pallet wrap plastic (very thin film) as well as, for instance, plastic shrink wrap that wraps cases of canned foods that are in boxes with no lid. I've never seen it recycled. This includes stores that collected plastic bags for recycling.

That seems strange, perhaps the employees were just too busy (or maybe too lazy) to take it to the spot where said bags were collected (since that may not be right where they are working unwrapping pallets or cases)?

Cardboard boxes that have tape which are common in most non-grocery retail (plastic tape almost always of course) are another issue, I have been told in a couple instances that you need to get the tape off the box in order for the cardboard to be recyclable/go into the baler. Also that the baler can get screwed up/stuff stuck to it if you put boxes with "loose" or "hanging" tape into the baler. Stickers would also be an issue but I've never heard you need to peel stickers pre-baler. Many grocery boxes have glue instead of tape so that is not an issue.

That makes sense - I know I always try to remove tape from such things if recycling them at home (say a box that something was sent in).

As far as these super thick plastics go that had the 8 rolls of paper towels wrapped in them, I don't see why they couldn't be recycled in the same place as plastic bags, plastic shipping air pockets, etc. are collected for recycling.

That is what I was suggesting and have even seen signs to indicate such at some locations (given that now there isn't nearly as much in the way of bags being returned, with stores no longer using them at checkouts, but restaurants still can for take-out, plus other bags like for veggies and similar).

Some cities like San Francisco collect plastic bags and the other thin film plastics for recycling (they still do this to this day) if you set them aside from your other recycling bundled together in a single plastic bag and isolate it/get it to a place where it can be recycled.

Haven't heard of any place doing this, but it makes sense that they would try it if it was feasible and still able to keep them out of the rest of the process, to avoid the machinery issues.

I only posted this because this is yet another example of the unintended consequences of these plastic bag bans. The plastic people just find other ways to sell EVEN MORE PLASTIC than ever before thanks to these regulations.
and now these creative things going on with pallets where they figure out a way to wrap stuff in a bunch of plastic instead of putting it in boxes on the pallet.

The question would be, are they actually using more plastic?
Things like the multi rolls of paper items were already wrapped in plastic. Pallets were also usually wrapped that way (to keep them from falling apart in transit). So, it seems that all they did was eliminate the boxes, by putting the already wrapped packs of stuff on a pallet without any box and then still wrapping the whole thing together?

[mbz321]

Every store I've been involved with has thrown away pallet wrap plastic (very thin film) as well as, for instance, plastic shrink wrap that wraps cases of canned foods that are in boxes with no lid. I've never seen it recycled. This includes stores that collected plastic bags for recycling.

At Costco, we have a baler just for clear plastic shrinkwrap. What gets done with it once it leaves the store, who knows, but I would assume it gets recycled in some way given the time spent baling it up.

[veteran+]

In 99 Only today they had a couple pallets of "BIG" Paper Towels (on sale for .9999) on pallets. What was interesting is these pallets had the paper towels bundled in super thick plastic wrap instead of in boxes (this brand used to come in cardboard boxes), the towels were bundled like 8 to a super thick plastic. Then the pallet was wrapped in layers and layers of thin plastic film as pallets typically are.

I just find it funny how many things that used to be paper are suddenly now using single use plastic and this new single use plastic for these products has zero reuse potential. It could be recycled but I doubt they are recycling it.

I guess this is similar to pallets of bottled water where they pile up the bundles of water that are all wrapped in plastic and there is no cardboard at all on those pallets.

It would appear not using cardboard on pallets would cut down on weight and also probably make stocking more efficient. Sure plastic waste goes up but as long as customer-facing single use plastics are banned the environmentalists do not care one bit.

Those types of wraps (around things like the towels you mention, water bottles and such) can be put in with plastic bags for recycling at stores (not sure where other places put such a bin, around here it's usually where you return deposit bottles but since not all states have deposits, they would have to find a different spot).

I'm sure StoreWanderer will reply with more detail, but the odds are that none of this plastic is actually recyclable. The fact is that the majority of plastic can't be recycled, and in fact much of it such as these highly touted recyclable shopping bags actually foul recycling processes of the few items that can be recycled. My trash hauler says they won't take recycle if it's in bags because none of the bags can be recycled anywhere here despite the fact that they all have a recycle logo. Just because it has a recycle logo on it doesn't mean that anyone will recycle it. Most of our recycling was being sent to China where they would buy it but now they don't want to be a garbage can for America. The industry has done a good job of making consumers believe if it is plastic it is recyclable. That just isn't the case. I was in Canada a few years ago and they have a slightly different marking system where each recyclable has a code number. Pretty much one of the ten kinds of plastic could actually be recycled and the rest according to their sorting poster need to be put in the trash. This is a problem when considering aluminum and glass are always recyclable. I know I haven't led a store in a market yet that will accept pallet wrap in the recycling. Even if it is recyclable it jams and destroys mechanical sorting machines, and obviously human labor is hard to find/not affordable. Who wants to stand on an assembly line in a building with limited ventilation and no air conditioning where you have to use your gloved hands to sort sticky, smelly beer bottles from dirty diapers and syringes with needles that people kindly deposited in their recycle bin? But anything with plastic bags or wrap gets diverted to hand sort. If the labor isn't there for hand sort then guess what happens to that load? Right into the landfill.

EXACTLY!

9% of plastic is acutally recyclable and of that 9%, 22% finally gets recycled.

[veteran+]

"Cardboard boxes that have tape which are common in most non-grocery retail (plastic tape almost always of course) are another issue, I have been told in a couple instances that you need to get the tape off the box in order for the cardboard to be recyclable/go into the baler. Also that the baler can get screwed up/stuff stuck to it if you put boxes with "loose" or "hanging" tape into the baler. Stickers would also be an issue but I've never heard you need to peel stickers pre-baler. Many grocery boxes have glue instead of tape so that is not an issue."

Is this a "new" thing?

I have never done, seen or heard about this.

It is unworkable in any place that does respectable volume. Imagine the hit to productivity?

[ClownLoach]

"Cardboard boxes that have tape which are common in most non-grocery retail (plastic tape almost always of course) are another issue, I have been told in a couple instances that you need to get the tape off the box in order for the cardboard to be recyclable/go into the baler. Also that the baler can get screwed up/stuff stuck to it if you put boxes with "loose" or "hanging" tape into the baler. Stickers would also be an issue but I've never heard you need to peel stickers pre-baler. Many grocery boxes have glue instead of tape so that is not an issue."

Is this a "new" thing?

I have never done, seen or heard about this.

It is unworkable in any place that does respectable volume. Imagine the hit to productivity?

I've never heard that. Must be a cardboard hauler without modern processing. My understanding is that the cardboard is recycled using some kind of process that makes it into a slurry and that the tape separates in that process. Plastic coated cardboard is a different story similar to coffee cups where they can't actually be recycled.