Business

The Timber Packaging and Pallet Confederation (Timcon) is to launch a new tool that enables members to calculate the greenhouse gases associated with their timber pallets.

The Pallet Materials Carbon Calculator will be available online in the end of October. It will be free of charge to members.

Timcon hopes the calculator will help to prove the green credentials of timber pallets over alternative materials, such as plastic.

The software calculates the carbon footprint based on criteria that includes type and quantity of material in a pallet, country of manufacture, and the distance it has been transported.

The Edinburgh Centre for Carbon Management developed the software for Timcon.

The project is the result of Timcon's collaboration with the Swedish Forest Industries Federation and timber promotional campaign Wood for Good.

To support the Carbon Calculator, Timcon has also created three factsheets outlining the carbon intensity of heat-treated pallets, heat-treated and kiln-dried timber pallets, and green timber pallets.