The trend is towards the circular economy, recycling and DIY, so why not get started too by recovering pallets to transform them into decorative objects or even furniture?!
Be careful not to make a mistake about the choice of pallets that you will recover because there is pallet and pallet! Some are marked "EUR-EPAL", they are consigned and reused by carriers so do not appropriate them. On the other hand, all those that do not bear this logo can be recovered. You will often have the choice of the format and the quality of the wood since they do not meet a standardized quality.
On the latter, also check the type of treatment that the wood has received, by inspecting the studs:if the letters "MB" are printed, this means that the pallet has been treated with methyl bromide, which is very toxic and banned since 2010; opt for pallets whose studs display the marking "HT" abbreviation of "Heat Treatment" or "thermal treatment" which guarantees that there will be no release of volatile organic compounds (VOC) in your interior thereafter .
You will be able to get these non-returnable pallets, at the back of supermarkets, in commercial areas or on construction sites, mainly.
Depending on what you plan to create from the pallets, you will often need to prepare the pallets so that the wood is clean and usable according to your plans. To do this, the vice in your workshop may be useful to you and you will need to be somewhat equipped with electrical DIY equipment (jigsaw, sander, drill-driver) and basic equipment (screwdriver, hammer, crowbar, pliers, pliers power strip, square, meter, wood filler and painter's knife...).
With all this you can disassemble the boards, cut them to the desired size, sand them, fill any holes in the boards, screw the boards to build your furniture or decorative object.
At the level of the achievements to be manufactured in wooden pallets, the list is long and can be enriched according to the imagination and the creativity of each one. It is possible to create a wooden pallet toy box, or a garden shed for children. In terms of furniture, a box spring, a headboard, bedside tables will make your bedroom, while in the living room, you will make shelves, armchairs and a sofa, not to mention the coffee table. Console, various stools, bookcase, frames, decorative elements are all DIY suggestions to consider.
If you lack ideas or if you want to find all the detailed and illustrated explanations, you can turn to "My furniture and my decoration in pallets" by Françoise Manceau-Guilhermond , designer of furniture made from recycled materials such as pallets and cardboard (Editions Terre Vivante - €14 ). She presents 18 models to be made in 4 hours maximum for a cost not exceeding 10 € (screws, handles, wheels...):isn't that great?!
