Wooden and plastic pallets are used extensively in global trade to transport finished goods and products. This article compares the life cycle performance of treated wooden and plastic pallets through a detailed cradle‐to‐grave life cycle assessment (LCA), and conducts an analysis of the various phytosanitary treatments. The LCA investigates and evaluates the environmental impacts due to the resources consumed and emissions of the product throughout its life cycle. The environmental impacts of the pallets are compared on a one‐trip basis and a 100,000‐trips basis. Impact categories are chosen with respect to environmental concerns. The results show that on a one‐trip basis, wooden pallets with conventional and radio frequency (RF) heat treatment incur an overall carbon footprint of 71.8% and 80.3% lower, respectively, than plastic pallets during their life cycle; and in comparison with wooden pallets treated with methyl bromide fumigation, they incur 20% and 30% less overall carbon footprint. Theoretical calculations of the resource consumption and emissions of RF treatment of pallets suggest that dielectric technology may provide a lower‐carbon alternative to both current ISPM 15‐approved treatments and to plastic pallets. Methyl bromide fumigation (15.95 kg CO₂ equivalent [eq.]) has a larger carbon footprint than conventional heat treatment (12.69 kg CO₂ eq.) of pallets. For the 100,000‐trips basis, the differences are even more significant. The results recommend that wooden pallets are more environmentally friendly than plastic pallets, and conventional and RF heat treatment for wooden pallets is more sustainable than methyl bromide fumigation treatment.

中文翻译：

---

杂货业木制和塑料托盘的生命周期评估比较

木制和塑料托盘在全球贸易中广泛用于运输成品和产品。本文通过详细的从摇篮到坟墓的生命周期评估（LCA），比较了经过处理的木制和塑料托盘的生命周期性能，并对各种植物检疫处理方法进行了分析。LCA调查和评估由于产品在其整个生命周期中消耗的资源和产品排放而对环境造成的影响。一次比较托盘的环境影响，一次超过100,000次。针对环境问题选择影响类别。结果表明，在单程情况下，经过常规和射频（RF）热处理的木制托盘的总碳足迹分别降低了71.8％和80.3％，超过塑料托盘的生命周期；与经过甲基溴熏蒸处理的木托盘相比，它们的总碳足迹减少了20％和30％。对托盘的射频处理的资源消耗和排放量的理论计算表明，电介质技术可以为当前ISPM 15批准的处理方法和塑料托盘提供低碳替代方案。溴甲烷熏蒸（15.95千克一氧化碳₂当量[eq。]）的碳足迹要比传统的热处理托盘（12.69 kg CO ₂ eq。）大。对于100,000次行程，差异更大。结果表明，木制托盘比塑料托盘更环保，木制托盘的常规和RF热处理比甲基溴熏蒸处理更可持续。