Pallet shredder diverts waste wood from landfill and saves refrigeration firm thousands

The company — which specialises in the installation, removal, repair, and disposal of commercial refrigeration display equipment — contacted UNTHA UK within 20 minutes of seeing a PS1300 in action at another local refrigeration firm.

The machine is now installed at the organisation’s factory in Wellingborough and is processing its waste wood pallets on site. The firm is also selling the resulting homogenous 30mm wood chip for biomass heat recovery.

Commenting on the investment, Murray Carvell, managing director at MC Refrigeration Ltd, said: “The fridges we import from Europe don’t arrive on standard-size wooden pallets — they are custom made for the units, which means some can be 12ft long and 3ft wide.

“As a result, they can’t be reused to transport anything else and no-one wants them. Prior to purchasing the shredder, we had no choice but to dispose of them as waste at landfill — something we were keen to find a more circular solution for.”

MC Refrigeration was previously spending over £1,000 per month in landfill costs, skip hire, and collection fees.

“Not only have we reduced our waste footprint, but the financials stack up too,” added Murray. “With the savings we’re making, the machine will pay for itself in 3-4 years. It is also economical to run and keeps our site tidy.”

Ian Harvey, sales manager at UNTHA UK, concluded: “The PS1300 is one of our most compact single-shaft machines — purposely engineered for waste wood, it can process up to 32 pallets per hour.

“It’s been fantastic working with Murray on this project. And there is huge potential for other refrigeration organisations within the industry to copy this closed loop, best-practice model for their own sites.”