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.

Fort Lauderdale News-Sun Sentinel