#phpallets

It’s easy to take pallet quality for granted when they’re an everyday piece of equipment used in warehouse or factory operations. But they’re designed and made specifically for moving massive weights, which mean accidents can and do happen if you cut corners by using inferior pallets.

To avoid this the answer is simply to remind your team that pallets should be inspected every time they are used and to source your pallet stock from a professional pallet management company with a quality reputation.

To ensure you choose the right pallet supplier to ensure quality pallets and cut the risk of accidents, we suggests looking for the following key features in a pallet management company.

Look for ISO accreditation in quality, environmental, and health and safety management.

Check that the pallet company has management information systems providing a detailed breakdown of the quality and quantity of pallet stock for tracking and customer reports.

Ensure the company offers the latest heat treatment services to the ISPM15 International Phytosanitary Standard for Wood Packaging.

Choose a pallet management company that preferably doesn’t offer ‘cash for pallets’; it will indicate the company’s professionalism and reinforces pallet tracking.

Spot check and tour the pallet company’s operational premises.

Look for value for money rather than the cheapest quote.

Business news – especially nationally - is dominated by the plight of our credit starved economy, the deserted high streets, youth unemployment and banking morals (or lack of). No-one seems to be talking about the dark horse that is the Green Economy.

Green jobs and the growing number of green focused businesses are bright sources of optimism in the UK's recession slapped economy. Did you know that environmental and low-carbon business now makes up 8% of the UK's GDP? And did you know that it provides a third of the growth the UK economy has managed to squeeze out over the past few years?

There are now nearly 1 million people employed in green jobs, from bio-fuels and electric car manufacturing to wind turbines and recycling. More than 25,000 jobs were created in 2011.

Last year a report from the environmental think tank Green Alliance said the UK’s green economy, which includes the recycling sector, has remained healthy since the banking crisis. The think tank used a bag-for-life full of official government figures to summarise the current state of the green economy, which is in good health.

Our green sector is now larger than car manufacturing, aerospace or telecoms but why isn’t anyone shouting about it? Where is the political and media attention? Who is waving the good news in front of investors (at home and internationally)?

We know from our own experience, recycling wooden pallets, that the green economy remains strong. In fact, we’ve just completed a big investment in upgrade of our bespoke IT system and recycling unit in Manchester, updating our brand, new vehicles and we’re looking to invest more in the future.

In a struggling economy recycling makes absolute sense – it saves time, raw material and costs – and nowadays most waste material is a commodity. Using waste wisely makes for good business and a strong economy. So, if anything can give us growth over the next few years and help us avoid a triple-dip recession then it’s the green economy.

It sounds a strange mix: pallets and gardening - a bit like a fish and a bicycle or a Conservative and Liberal Democrat coalition - but pallets and gardening are the Fred and Ginger of the recycling world!

A quick exploration of the world wide web and you soon come across sites like 'Life on a Balcony', which tells you how to turn a pallet into a garden, or 'The Small House Family', where you'll find instructions on how to build a compost bin.

What amazes us is the fact that the pallets can look absolutely stunning when planted up - see The Micro Gardener. It's a far cry from the distribution yards, warehouses and dockyards that people usually associate the humble pallet with.

Unless you've been lost in the Australia Outback you may have noticed a bit of snowfall in January and early February, which of course meant that Britain came to a virtual standstill.

After a short respite of warmer climes, the winter is set to return on Wednesday (February 20) as a cold front brings freezing temperatures and a bitter wind. Some parts of Britain may even see a return to snowfalls by the end of the week.

Other northern European countries can't understand why we cope so badly with snow but it's probably because it doesn't happen that often over these fair Isles. So, we're not always prepared and schools, airports, trains and roads all suffer...

Except that PH Pallets IS prepared! Snow is no bother to us because we've long invested in our own snowplough and gritter (plus the team wear long johns!). That means our pallets keep on moving no matter what the weatherman says...