The work carried out by the University of Florence, in collaboration with ASSOIMBALLAGGI of FEDERLEGNOARREDO, focused on analyzing the environmental impacts of one-way pallets, produced by companies with and without an in-house sawmill.

In accordance with the PCR 2019:13 Packaging, the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) methodology was applied, which generated results focused on the Climate Change indicator included in the EF 3.1 methodology, considering the upstream, core, and downstream phases.

The results showed that raw material procurement contributes more to fossil fuel emissions than other phases; in fact, the values ​​were 5.14E-01 kg CO2eq. and 1.43E+00 kg CO2eq., for the scenarios of companies with and without a sawmill, respectively.

On the other hand, the results associated with biogenic carbon demonstrate how wood offers a significant environmental gain thanks to its ability to absorb CO2 during its formation, providing, for both scenarios analyzed, a CO2 storage of -1.77E+01 kg CO2eq. in companies with a sawmill and -1.81E+01 kg CO2eq. in companies without a sawmill. Furthermore, the impacts associated with the end-of-life cycle (e.g., waste-to-energy) also result in an environmental gain, although not substantially affecting the overall impacts (-3.59E-01 kg CO2eq. in companies with a sawmill and -2.15E-01 kg CO2eq. in companies without a sawmill).

In conclusion, the analysis highlights how biogenic carbon makes custom wooden pallets not only a key indicator of circularity, but a true decarbonization vector capable of actively contributing to the removal of greenhouse gases from the atmosphere.