There are all sorts of things that can be done with scraps of wood and old pallets to give them another life and to turn them into interesting features in the house or garden. During the first lockdown I was furloughed from my job and spent some of the time making things from pallets and bits of wood that were lying around the garage.
It is estimated that 450 million pallets are produced every year from trees and there could be around 2 billion pallets in service at any one time. Fortunately many pallets are re-used multiple times and are often used to produce wood chip for biomass heating. It is estimated that 43.5 million trees are saved each year by reusing pallets but this could be much higher. Saving trees also saves carbon as trees are hugely important in sequestering carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.
Many companies have deliveries on pallets but no way of reusing them and will let you have them for free if you ask. They can be used for all sorts of practical things. You could build a log store or compost heap or something smaller for inside the house.
We hope to establish a project tool library where members of the community can come and borrow tools and learn skills. This will hopefully include a pallet breaker tool which is incredibly useful for stripping the wood from pallets without breaking it.
If you have an idea or something you have made post it in the comments box, we would love to see them!
