Wherever you see building works, you're likely to spot these: wooden pallets.

不论是哪里的建筑工程，都不乏有这些木制托盘的影子。

 

And here is why they are useful. They allow bulky items to be easily transported. The UK construction industry gets through about 18 million of them each year – and the vast majority are used only once.

木制托盘的用处在于：它们使大件物品易于运输。英国建筑业每年消耗1800万个托盘，其中绝大多数只用过一次。

 

Julia Messenger, Sustainability Manager, BAM

So, when we get pallets, we'll store them on site and effectively put them in the skip. What we want to move towards though is material reuse, where the pallets are being reused over and over again.

朱莉娅·梅森杰       BAM 可持续发展经理

“我们收到了托盘后，会把它们存放在工地上，然后就把它们放到废料箱里。我们想要实现的是材料的再利用，但我们想朝材料再利用的方向发展，也就是一次又一次地重复利用这些托盘。”

 

All of those single-use pallets require thousands of hectares of trees to be harvested each year. And of course, manufacturing, transporting and disposing of them creates a significant carbon footprint. So, could these colourful pallets be part of a solution? They don't look too different, but they're designed to be stronger, so they can be used multiple times. A group of major construction companies – including BAM – who run this site in Dartford, London, have signed a pledge to address the issue of pallet waste and try a new system devised by a former pallet manufacturer.

制作这些一次性托盘每年需要砍伐数千公顷的树木。当然，制造、运输和处理它们会产生巨大的碳足迹。那么，这些色彩鲜艳的托盘能成为解决方案的一部分吗？它们看上去与普通托盘没什么不同，但设计更坚固，因此可以多次使用。几家大型建筑公司，包括在伦敦达特福德经营这个工地的 BAM 公司，已经许下承诺，保证解决托盘浪费的问题，并试用由一家前托盘制造商设计的新系统。

 

Paul Lewis, Founder¹, The Pallet Loop

Today, it's very much a linear model of distribute and discard at the end. So, we're looking to create a circular solution.

保罗·刘易斯       托盘循环（The Pallet Loop）公司创始人

“目前人们遵循的是用完之后就丢弃的线性模式。因此，我们希望创建一个循环式的解决方案。”

 

A deposit system means the extra cost of these pallets is passed down the supply chain. The hope is that each one can be used at least half a dozen times. Used ones are returned to a local hub for repair and redistribution.

采用押金制度意味着这些托盘的额外成本会沿供应链向下传递。他们希望每个托盘都能至少使用六次。用过的托盘会送回本地处理中心进行维修和再分配。

 

The new pallet system is due to take off on building sites early next year.

新的托盘系统将于明年初在建筑工地推行。

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