Transport pallets are used worldwide in many different industries. In many global industries, 80 to 90% of all goods is shipped on wooden pallets, and bundled in containers. High-quality end products (i.e. electronics, clothing) are almost entirely transported on pallets. Annually, large producing countries import or build huge quantities of pallets. Worldwide, approximately 6 billion pallets per year are used. Such massive volumes have several negative environmental effects, like largescale deforestation, transport/export energy use, and low-value waste after use. CocoPeople (CCP) has developed a new process to eliminate these negative effects, based on a new industrial application of a abundantly available bio-material to construct a competitive biodegradable, cradle2cradle, reusable, nail free and stackable pallet, based on a very affordable bio-waste feedstock and low cost process. For this, CCP uses a material that is considered low-value organic waste during coconut production: the husk, or more specifically the coconut fibers in the husk.
CocoPeople identified several low value and high value B2B and B2C business cases, e.g. transport pallets, semi-structural automotive components, roof tiling, and furniture. Based on the evaluation of product specifications and characteristics of these applications with potential customers in the most relevant market segments, we concluded at an early stage that CocoPallets are the most viable first application for coconut composite materials. Further research and advancements in coconut composites technology will eventually allow for market penetration of high-value applications of pressed coconut fiber material in the long run, such as semi-structural automotive components.
Although transport pallets belong to a specific niche market, the impact of making pallets from coconut waste can be very large, especially from an environmental point of view. Transport pallets are a large scale application, that currently claim a vast amount of resources. CocoPallets will substantially reduce greenhouse gas emissions and pollution, due to (1) the reduction of deforestation and transportation, (2) the use of waste materials, (3) the absence of harmful resins and synthetic materials and (4) the elimination of pest pretreatments. The current focus of CocoPeople on marketing their CocoPalelts has only been temporarily limited and will be broadened in the long term future, to include high value B2C products. The likelihood of success of these ventures will only increase with the experience from pallets.
