FAQs

There are thousands of different pallet specifications ranging from regular standard size pallets to bespoke pallets to suit your specific requirements. If you would like a quote on pallet supply, please contact us and we can discuss which pallets best suit your operations. RPS can also develop a total pallet management system incorporating the possibilities of packaging recovery.

One of the key services offered by RPS is packaging recovery, therefore whether you use an expensive bespoke pallet or a standard size pallet we can cater for all your pallet recovery needs.

All pallets vary in size and cost. Most pallets have a residual value which RPS may be able to offer a rebate for. If you have a load of pallets you need to get rid of then please do not hesitate to get in touch to see how RPS could arrange to collect your pallets for evaluation and potentially offer your company value.

As part of the extremely environmentally conscious society that we now live in, if any of the scrap pallets we collect cannot be reused we have a recycling outlet. Many pallets that require excessive repair may be not fit for reuse and would therefore be sent to one of our recycling operations. All of the scrap pallets and timber collected will be recycled into either wooden fuel briquettes, treated wood chippings or sent to our associated wood fuelled biomass energy centres. We can fully track where all of the scrap pallets and timber end up ensuring zero waste timber to landfill.

Depending upon your operations you could be eligible to apply for various different environmental permits. These could include waste exemption permits which allow your company can handle packaging such as wooden pallets, composite IBCs and drums that are considered to be part of a low risk waste handling operation.

The EA have a section on their website detailing the various permits available, including information on the Environmental Permitting Regulations (England and Wales) 2010, so you can find the correct one for your business.

For details of the waste exemption permits held by RPS please refer to the RPS Audit Pack.

If your annual turnover is £2m and you generate 50 tonnes of packaging waste a year then you are obligated under the packaging waste regulations. As part of the government's efforts to reduce the overall amount of packaging waste, for example introducing schemes such as the waste framework directive, many companies could reduce their overall obligated tax by recovering their existing packaging assets. A recovered pallet is not obligated as it does not constitute a new packaging item going into the UK waste stream.

To find out more about the packaging waste regulations, please visit our sister company's website www.outpace.co.uk and find out how RPS can help reduce your packaging waste obligation and overall packaging spend check Our Services.

The Waste Framework Directive was originally passed into law in 2006, detailing the legislation for the collection, transport, recovery and disposal of waste in Europe. The Waste Hierarchy details the preferred sustainable way to handle packaging. Click here for more information and a presentation on the Waste Hierarchy. For further information on the Waste Framework Directive please visit the EU website.

For all the latest environmental legislation updates, RPS refers to the Government Net Regs website.

For all the latest health and safety law updates, RPS refers to the HSE website.

The recovery process is based on four simple steps:

a. Your firm commitment to recovery including the appointment of a Business stakeholder to champion the cause

b. Inform customers of your intentions to recover

c. Provide pallet dispatch data

d. For RPS to start calling customers to arrange collections.

Our aim is to make the process simple, effective and rewarding. Our expertise in customer service, reverse logistics and operational excellence will ensure recovery is implemented seamlessly and once established require modest internal resource to deliver measurable benefit.

In simple terms nothing. Collections of your pallets are free of charge and you only pay for the pallets returned. Basically a risk free solution based on results not promises.

Always a difficult question to quantify as it depends on your current pallet costs and hence total pallet spend. In broad terms we should save a minimum of 20% and possibly up to 50% dependent on the item to be recovered. For example recovery of re-conditioned Europallet or 1200.1000mm standard pallets generally provides a 20% saving whereas a heavy duty 1200.1200mm drum pallet can and often saves between 40-50%.

In terms of setting up the recovery process naturally requires you to inform your customers of the intent to recover. Once customers have been informed then to facilitate recovery we require, under confidentiality, your dispatch data which provides customer location, key contact details and the number of pallets (or other items ) delivered. From this point RPS will take on the effective recovery of your pallets. We would of course ask that we periodically sit down to review the recovery performance.

The RPS recovery service provides clients with a positive and visible environmental impact. Existing and emerging environmental legislation requires businesses to seek alternative solutions to landfill and even recycling. The 2011 revision to the EU Waste Framework Directive sets out a new waste management hierarchy. These changes basically require you to apply the waste management hierarchy to the waste you generate.

Pallets dispatched without an intention to recover are classified as waste even if destined to be recycled. Any waste generated has now to be declared, on your waste transfer note, and that you've explored re-use possibilities before considering recycling and/or landfill. The formal and measured recovery of pallets, and similar transit packaging, through the RPS network complies with the aims of the revised legislation.

This is another area where recovery for re-use commercially benefits over a simple expendable approach. All new packaging is subject to a compliance tax. However, where packaging is recovered for re-use then those items are exempt from that tax. That principle applies to recovered pallets. RPS can offer you all the necessary compliance expertise to ensure you take full advantage of the benefits available.

The answer is yes. Inevitably when we recover our clients pallets we're also asked to consider collecting other unwanted pallets which may or may not have residual value. We would be happy to assess and where value is identified offer a competitive rebate for your discarded pallets.