Pallet industry relying more on recovered wood material

(Editor’s Note: The following article is a research report titled, Wood Use Trends in the Pallet and Container Industry: 1992 1999, that was published by the authors earlier this year. The research was conducted by Virginia Tech in collaboration with the U.S. Forest Service Southern Research Station. Part one, published in September, summarized the findings of the study and focused on a number of areas, including use of hardwood, softwood and wood panels, new pallet and skid production, pallet recovery and utilization, and other topics. In part two, which follows, the authors examine the results of the study in combination with previous studies in order to identify wood use trends.