Loadhog Puts The Lid on ‘Green’ Partnership with Honda

Sheffield company Loadhog Ltd has joined forces with leading car manufacturer Honda to tackle environmental issues head on with a scheme to eliminate packaging waste.

The 'green' initiative will also enhance supply chain efficiency and track and protect Honda's returnable packaging equipment.

Loadhog, which has been transforming the packaging industry with its revolutionary recyclable pallet lids, has secured a major contract with Honda. It is providing the motor giant with an immediate injection of 9,000 Loadhog Lids, which will replace the existing basic lids that need banding or wrapping for security.

These lids will be used by more than 100 of Honda's suppliers throughout the UK to deliver components to its plants and DC network. The suppliers will use the system to transport pallets of full product, with Honda using the lids to return empty packaging boxes.

Loadhog lids have been specifically designed to secure a level load to any standard wooden or plastic pallet without the need for any form of banding, wrapping or other security.

Traditional disposable plastic film and strapping is reported to waste 222,000 tonnes of plastic a year in the UK - a major source of material cost to UK business and really an unknown cost to the environment.

Through Loadhog's partnership with Honda, just one Loadhog lid will be used three times a week and will save an estimated 550kg of pallet wrap in its lifetime. Not only generating material savings but also providing a major leap towards achieving Honda's target of zero landfill by 2010.

"We are proud to be working with Honda to help them create an environmentally friendly solution for their supply chain," said Hugh Facey, Executive Chairman of Loadhog Ltd.

"The Loadhog system eliminates disposable wrapping, which means zero land fill. It delivers environmental benefits and there is also a cost and time saving advantage. Our partnership with Honda is ground-breaking and we anticipate that other companies within the motors industry will want to follow suit in the future when they see the benefits."

The system will not only provide Honda with a 'green' solution but will also help the company and its suppliers make huge cost and efficiency savings.

The lids, which are themselves 100 percent recyclable, take only seconds to apply/remove and will generate substantial labour savings in the region of two minutes every time a pallet is secured. Improved pallet security, stability and product/packaging protection, also enables the Loadhog to fully secure double or triple stacked pallets for transportation and storage.

The system will be further enhanced by Honda's pioneering use of state-of-the-art RFID technology built into the Loadhog Lids to track and trace product, packaging and pallet movements throughout their supply chain.

November 2006