Application
Report 21
The Problem...
Wooden Pallets
Large daily newspapers received the majority of the preprinted inserts
they distribute for advertisers directly on wooden pallets. Many of
these pallets are damaged in shipping and handling. The Fort Lauderdale
News-Sun Sentinel had to deal with up to 25 damaged 4-foot-square wooden
pallets each day. These accumulated broken pallets occupied valuable
floor space, and posed a potential personnel safety hazard. The newspaper
disposed of these broken pallets by compacting them along with other
trash, filling a compactor twice a week. Pickup and disposal by independent
waste haulers was unreliable and expensive.
The Solution...
A 58" wide Front Feed BloApCo Shredder
A 58" wide Front Feed BloApCo shredder fed by a 10-ft.-long belt conveyor
was installed over the compactor.
The shredder's
unique, patented slow-speed "Pierce-and-Tear" shredding action assures
complete destruction of the wooden pallets. Special ripping wheels tear
apart the pallets and reduce them to smaller, relatively uniform pieces
of scrap, which are easily compacted in fewer, denser loads. Nails,
wires and strapping pass through the shredder without interference.
The number of compactor
loads has been reduced from two a week to two a month. At the time,
they were paying a dump fee of $345 per container, plus $95 for handling.
Shredding reduced the newspaper's pallet disposal costs from as high
as $3,520 a month to $880 a month. At this rate, their annual savings
were $31,680.