Presswood makes pallets & blocks from recycled wood. Presswood was set up as a stunning example of innovative entrepreneurship, at the start of the nineteen-sixties. Barend Vierhouten started a business collecting and processing used deep frying and other oils. Steam is used in this process of heating and processing deep frying oil, which in those days was produced in oil-powered steam boilers.

An alternative fuel was sought due to continuous increases in oil prices and that was found in the incineration of wood. The recyclable wood was broken in various stages, until it had the right dimensions for the incinerator. Because the supply of recyclable wood far exceeded the demand, other uses were sought for the machined wood. Those other uses were found in the production of pressed wood pallets and later also in pallet reels.

Lightweight pallets
In around 1984, a German company’s entire production facilities of pressed wood pallets were taken over. These pressed wood pallets are produced with the aid of matrices in high-pressure presses, where the wood chips are mixed with a synthetic resin until the super-strong presswood pallets are pressed. Compared with traditional wooden pallets, the presswood pallets are lightweight, very dry (6-8% moisture content) and yield great savings on account of their stackability.