April 21, 2008 - Hewlett-Packard is piloting the use of recyclable plastic pallets to ship its notebook PCs from suppliers in China. HP says the plastic pallets are stronger, lighter, and more durable than wooden pallets, helping to boost worker safety and reduce greenhouse gas emissions from air transport. 

HP currently uses plastic pallets for airfreight shipments from Europe and Latin America. The company estimates the program reduced its carbon footprint from transportation by more than seven metric tons in 2006.

HP recovers and recycles the plastic pallets through its supplier, Airdex International. Its European plastic-pallet program successfully captures 98% of its plastic pallets for reuse or recycling, according to HP.

In related news, HP has become the first company to earn the right to display U.S. EPA's SmartWay cleaner-transport logo on some of its products. SmartWay is a voluntary partnership program aimed at reducing fuel consumption and greenhouse gas and other air emissions from ground transport activities. To display the SmartWay logo, HP must use only SmartWay-compliant carriers in its ground transportation network for specific products.

The logo will be displayed on HP Pavilion and Compaq Presario consumer desktops, monitors, and accessories. HP has pledged to broaden its network of SmartWay-compliant carriers, eventually qualifying all of its consumer products for the logo.

Earlier this month, HP reported that supplier audits demonstrated "strong progress" toward achieving the company's environmental goals. The company also published a list of its largest suppliers (PDF) - an industry first.