Replies to post #43905 on Savvy Trades and Investments

[researcher59]

GLGI - thanks, that's an interesting article .... the company is expanding its manufacturing capacity by 25% this year to meet growing demand -

10K -

Greystone’s in-house production capacity for its injection molding machines capable of producing pallets is about 120,000 plastic pallets per month, or 1,440,000 per year. Production levels generally vary proportionately with sales orders. In addition, Greystone plans to add two additional injection molding machines during fiscal year 2018 which will add production capacity of approximately 30,000 pallets per month, or 360,000 per year.

[nelson1234]

GLGI, maybe things have changed a bit, but in the days when I was dealing with pallets, the problem with plastic pallets is that they cost much more. Sure, they lasted longer, and were 'cleaner', no splinters..etc.

But the way it worked in the old days anyways, is if you delivered a trailer or container with twenty two pallets, the entity you delivered to took those twenty two pallets with their goods (and those goods were encased in shrink wrap to the pallet). In return, they loaded the truck with twenty two empty pallets. Then when that trucker went to his next pickup, he had empty pallets to exchange for the palletized load he picked up. And so on.

Point is, in this kind of delivery system, the more expensive plastic pallets, which you purchased, are know being exchanged in most cases for plastic wooden pallets......so you would end up paying more for plastic, but in most cases you'd eventually end up with cheaper wood.

Now, you could always charge for those pallets, but that could be difficult b/c pallets....at least in my old days....were considered just pallets...they were fungible, and thats what made everything easy, for you, the person you were delivering to or picking up from,and the trucker....whether that trucker worked for you or was third party.'

In the old days, plastic pallets were mostly used in business that serviced themselves completely....pick up and distribute from their own facilities with no one outside involved. But in the majority of cases, some other entity is involved in the delivery process.

best.

[zenvesting]

GLGI: Their raw materials costs for recycled plastic resins should drop significantly this year, heck, they might even get paid to take it in due time. China banned imports of foreign "recyclable" trash at the begining of the year and "recyclable" plastics are already piling up all over the developed world....and is becoming a major issue:
https://www.japantimes.co.jp/life/2018/01/24/environment/chinas-waste-import-ban-upends-global-recycling-industry/#.WmqgtXNOngA

As an environmental scientist I love what GLGI is doing, according to a 2009 Cornell study only 7% of plastics collected in the US recycling system are actually being recycled, the remainder are being shipped around the world until they are sent to what are essentially garbage dumps of sorted materials in China where they have accumulated beyond China's ability or desire to deal with it anymore. GLGI claims to be one of the main consumers of recycled plastic resins in the US, which is believable because not many companies want to deal with dirty, mixed-color plastic resins.

On a more trivial note, the author of this ResearchandMarkets.com report could use a natural resource economics class or two. He's got this fundamentally wrong: "Plastic pallets are environment-friendly as they are made of HDPE or PP, unlike wooden pallets that are made up of lumber and is a non-renewable resource."

Actually, wood is a renewable resource because trees regrow, plastics are non-renewable because they are derived from oil, which is finite because its supplies do not replenish. Maybe he meant plastic is recyclable....at least to the extent GLGI is using it....and makers of composite lumber like Trex, which is made from #4 LDPE plastic bags that are collected at the collection points in your local grocery store.

PSA: If you buy bottled water, please rethink that decision and consider getting a filter of some kind, or at least home delivery of the larger 5 gallon reusable bottles. The world is literally choking on the waste from our convenient disposable products, at current rates of consumption and disposal, there will be more plastic in the ocean than fish by the year 2050...and the wild caught, ocean dwelling fish we are eating now already contain detectable concentrations of microplastics....this is a huge problem that we have some control over the causes and effects.