Plastic pallets too hot to handle
It took 25 firefighters to put out a tiny warehouse fire in Lachine, Montreal, last month. A section of the warehouse used to store plastic pallets is where the fire started. There were not many flames, but there was a lot of black smoke coming from the fire.
In a fire that also occurred in August in San Antonio, Texas, belching, deadly black smoke was the norm. Pallets made of plastic were also used in this fire, but the losses and damages were far worse. A neighboring hotel had to be evacuated as the black, toxic smoke became too close for comfort. Approximately 120 firefighters and 42 units responded to the fire, which took six hours to put out.
“It can burn at a higher temperature when it burns,” observed one of the responding firefighters to the fire. When it starts, it will require much more effort to remove a dense plastic pallet.
Furthermore, plastic pallets emit a great deal of dioxins into the air as they burn. The strongest known synthetic carcinogen at this time is dioxin. Do you need some context? What about this?
Dioxins are around half a million times more potent than arsenic:
One of the world’s most industrialized areas is the eastern seaboard of North America, especially the line that runs from Toronto to Quebec City. As such, there are a lot of super warehouses in the area. Amazing warehouses are becoming more and more prevalent as businesses carry less and less stuff.
Just imagine if a super warehouse full of plastic pallets went up in flames?
In actuality, the toxic vapors will continue to make the area unhealthy for a while even after the fire has been completely put out. Moreover, it would be pointless to salvage any perishable goods from the fire.
Even though there would be little chance of an environmental catastrophe in a massive warehouse full of wood pallets catching fire, it would be less likely if the pallets were heat treated.
Pallets made of heat-treated wood don’t contain any chemicals, thus if they burnt, no external dioxins would be released into the atmosphere. Transporting your company’s important merchandise in a risk-free, competitive, and international border-compliant manner is made possible by heat-treated wood pallets, wood crates, and custom wood packing solutions.
For more than 65 years, chesapeakepallets has produced and supplied hardwood pallets of the highest caliber. The closest wood pallet maker to the US is HWP, and they provide heat-treated packaging options. Get in touch with Chesapeakepallets right now for additional details.
Also Read: Wood versus plastic your pallet questions answered
