Setting up a pallet take-back with your suppliers
If a supplier delivers regularly, its truck can take pallets back. Ask for it in the purchase terms, agree which pallets (theirs only, or any sound pallet of the same size), and count take-back as reuse. A supplier that reuses its own pallets buys fewer new ones, which is the case to make when you ask.
How to set it up
- List suppliers by delivery frequency and pallet type.
- Start with frequent suppliers who ship on a size they can reuse.
- Agree terms: which pallets, how many per trip, condition.
- Add a pallet return clause to purchase orders.
- Record pallets returned per delivery.
In your reporting
Take-back pallets are reused, not waste. Count them in the reuse share of the Pallet Fate Report. For the supplier they reduce new pallet purchases, which sits in its own scope 3 category 1; see purchased pallets.
Limits
- Odd sizes or broken pallets may not be wanted.
- Pooled pallets go to the pooler, not the supplier, unless the supplier manages the pool account.