low quality standard in EPAL logistics is also applied in Bulgaria
Participation in EPAL guarantees a huge market for pallet manufacturers
Kiril Vassilev – president of EPAL Bulgaria, Greece, Romania
Mr. Vasilev, what do Bulgarian pallet manufacturers gain from participating in the European EPAL network?
– The biggest market wins! “You can become a big trader in a big country, big market.” Burov said it. EPAL-licensed pallet manufacturers go through very strict controls and must meet a series of requirements to ensure consistently high quality. By obtaining a license, the market of the whole of Europe opens before them, as well as other markets such as those in Asia, Africa and Latin America. Our manufacturers now more often sell EPAL pallets as a commodity in Europe – Greece, Italy, Croatia, but also in Germany and France. However, this is only about 10%, the other 90% goes there again, but on them are uploaded the goods of our companies, manufacturers and exporters of many goods and details from the outsourcing companies in our countries. Here, in the Balkans, as pallet manufacturers, we are not “export-oriented” like Poland, Ukraine and the Baltics, but we are primarily directed to our manufacturers.
What can your and the European association do for their own in the international market, for their technological updating and production increase?
– Without an EPAL license, the pallet manufacturer cannot legally sell their pallets to Europe and place the EPAL mark, because it is illegal and can be administratively or legally prosecuted. All manufacturers licensed by EPAL must have high technical training, have automatic production lines or robots, production control is automated and must have modern drying chambers controlling the temperature treatment in order to destroy any parasites or insects inside the wood or on its surface .
We assist in the preparation and obtaining of an EPAL license. We conduct training for staff, clients, control officers – customs, police. We carefully monitor the market for counterfeiters – and they exist, there are – all kinds of “tarikats”, but we pursue them through our law firms, which we work with in Bulgaria and Romania.
How is the production and transport of pallets affected by another crisis of the economic year – with inflation and high energy prices arising from the impact of the war in Ukraine?
– The big “confusion” in the market started with the covid crisis of 2020. Many companies – manufacturers and licensees in Europe, closed and stopped production, many regular commodity flows were interrupted, logistical problems occurred everywhere. Prices start to rise by 200-300% compared to those in 2019. This was a deficit income that appeared in the market. Now the market has calmed down and prices have come back slightly. The war in Ukraine and the well-deserved sanctions imposed on Russia mainly affected fuel and transport prices, which are now twice as expensive.
The “Green Deal” of the EU and the changes decided by it seriously affect your business as well. Are you ready for Bulgarian companies to meet the new requirements for the transition to a “green economy”, protection of wood resources, ecological production, use of energy-saving technologies?
– We are not held back by the “green deal” of Europe. We are part of “green Europe”! The main “goal” of reusable pallets, standardized and unified in all countries, is to reduce the amount of wood used. The so-called single use racks are serviceable after use and an EPAL pallet has 10-15 turnovers before it is repaired licensed and re-enters the circulation pool.
The high quality and strict control of independent external auditors make EPAL pallets reusable and do not leave waste that cannot be recycled.
With what sector can it contribute to the consolidation of the practice of a sustainable circular economy?
– I will repeat it – every manufacturer in Europe, China, Latin America and here in the Balkans that holds an EPAL license produces exactly the same pallets of the same size and quality, and these pallets are absolutely interchangeable. More than 100 million EPAL pallets are produced annually in the world, and more than 600 million units are in circulation in the EPAL open pool.
It is the “blood system” of the circular economy and global trade. With much less used natural resource, an effect is achieved, bearing customers no ability to move goods for billions. This is the EPAL system!