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‘Our pallets are designed and built for
reuse,’ says company ceo Roeland
Moens. ‘They are tough and have an
average lifecycle of ten years.’ This is
possible because the pallets are care-
fully inspected and repaired, if need-
ed, once they’ve reached their desti-
nation. Broken wood or pallets
beyond repair are sent to biomass
plants in the area.
‘We make sure that end-of-life prod-
ucts are collected, recovered and
recycled to provide a seamless ser-
vice,’ Moens notes. He points out that
some clients order up to a million pal-
let trips per year. ‘Our business never
stops moving.’
This is certainly not an empty claim,
according to hygiene paper product
manufacturer Wepa. The company
became IPP’s first customer in the UK
in 2004 and is still satisfied with what
has grown into a ‘very strong’ partner-
ship. ‘We work with major supermar-
kets and it is imperative we are able
to rely on our supply chain running
smoothly,’ comments John Turner,
logistics manager at Wepa. ‘IPP makes
the process of distribution simple and
if there are any slight issues, they are
on hand 24 hours to resolve them.’
Phil Storer, director of IPP, says prac-
tice makes perfect. ‘We do what we
do thousands of times every day,
that‘s how we’ve become the efficien-
cy experts we are. We continuously
improve the processes we operate to
orchestrate and synchronise all
aspects of the pallet flows.’
IPP’s services also help prevent food
waste. Fresh food specialist Bakkavör
reduced its rejection rate to just 1.3%
by using the ‘trade direct’ pooling
option. This takes available pallets
directly from retail units to desired
locations at a reduced cost to speed
up the process and avoid so-called
‘empty running’ – the wasteful trans-
port miles used on the return trip.
Bakkavör’s logistics manager Terry
Moore says, as a result, more fresh
produce reaches customers on time
‘without any supply chain delays’.
tainable. Dutch pallet pooling pioneer
IPP ships approximately 40 million pal-
lets across Europe every year. It owns
61 service centres and has a network
of ‘tens of thousands’ collection
points. IPP is part of the family-owned
Faber Halbertsema Group, one of the
continent’s largest pallet producers,
producing some 20 million new pallets
annually. IPP, headquartered in
Eindhoven, recycles roughly the same
amount each year.
One of its clients is Recupel, which col-
lects discarded light bulbs and electron-
ics for recycling. IPP has created special
take-back options for the waste man-
agement sector: a cathode ray tube
waste box, a universal e-scrap box, a
solar panel waste box, a post-consumer
flatscreen box; and a box for hazardous
goods like spent lithium batteries.
Other big names IPP caters to include
Danone, Tesco and PepsiCo with cus-
tomers using reverse vending benefit-
ting from:
• simple fees
• the right amount of pallets
• competitive pricing
• delivery to a specific location
• checks and repairs before delivery
• long-term contracts and daily rental
options
survey says…
A recent survey conducted by Narvar, a San
Fransisco-based company that offers a post-pur-
chase customer experience platform, found from a
focus group of 1 500 shoppers that they expect a
lot from retailers when it comes to reverse logistics.
• 96% would shop again with a retailer having an
‘easy’ or ‘very easy’ returns policy
• 69% of shoppers do not buy online if they have
to pay for return shipping
• 67% are deterred from buying if returns are sub-
ject to restocking fees
• 40% believe returning an online item to a physi-
cal store is easier than mailing It
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