ISPM-15 compliance—heat treating or fumigating solid wood packaging materials—adds cost and complexity to international shipping. For companies that regularly export goods, the treatment requirement is a recurring expense and a potential point of failure if documentation isn’t perfect.

An obvious question is whether alternative packaging materials that don’t require ISPM-15 treatment might be better. Plastic pallets, composite pallets, engineered wood products, and corrugated materials are all exempt from phytosanitary treatment. Do they make sense as replacements for solid wood?

The answer depends on what you’re optimising for: cost, environmental impact, durability, or biosecurity risk.

The Alternatives Available

Plastic pallets: Made from high-density polyethylene (HDPE) or polypropylene. Completely exempt from ISPM-15 because they can’t harbour wood-boring pests. Durable, easy to clean, and uniform in dimension.

Composite pallets: Made from pressed wood fibres bonded with resin. Technically still wood-based, but the manufacturing process (heat and pressure) destroys pests, so they’re exempt from ISPM-15 if manufactured to certain standards.

Engineered wood pallets: Plywood or oriented strand board (OSB) construction. Exempt from ISPM-15 because the manufacturing process involves high heat and pressure. Lighter than solid wood and more consistent.

Corrugated pallets: Heavy-duty cardboard structures. Lightweight, fully recyclable, no pest risk. Limited durability—typically single-use or light-duty only.

Metal pallets: Steel or aluminium. Extremely durable, no pest risk, but heavy and expensive.

Each material has trade-offs.

Cost Comparison

Initial cost per pallet (approximate Australian prices as of March 2026):

• Solid wood (heat-treated): $25-35
• Composite: $50-80
• Plastic: $80-150
• Engineered wood: $40-70
• Corrugated: $15-30 (single-use)
• Metal: $150-300

Solid wood is the cheapest upfront. But the total cost calculation needs to include:

• Treatment cost (if not included in pallet price)
• Lifespan and reusability
• Damage rate during transport
• Repair or replacement frequency
• End-of-life disposal cost

Plastic pallets cost 3-5 times as much as solid wood initially, but they last 10+ years in a closed-loop system where they’re returned and reused. For companies with established logistics networks that can manage pallet returns, the per-use cost can be comparable to or lower than wood.

Corrugated pallets are cheap but single-use, making them cost-effective only for lightweight, one-way shipments where pallet return isn’t feasible.

Durability and Performance

Solid wood pallets are robust and repairable. A broken deck board can be replaced. They tolerate rough handling reasonably well, though they do splinter and degrade over time, especially in humid conditions.

Plastic pallets don’t rot, don’t absorb moisture, and are resistant to chemicals and oils. But they can crack under impact, especially in cold temperatures. And when a plastic pallet breaks, it’s typically unrepairable—you discard the entire unit.

Composite and engineered wood pallets sit somewhere in between. They’re more consistent than solid wood (no knots or weak spots) but less robust than plastic. They don’t tolerate moisture as well as plastic and can delaminate if exposed to repeated wet-dry cycles.

Metal pallets are essentially indestructible in normal use, but their weight makes them impractical for air freight and unsuitable for many handling systems designed for lighter pallets.

Environmental Considerations

This is where the comparison gets complicated, because the “greenest” option depends on your assumptions about lifecycle, reuse, and end-of-life disposal.

Solid wood pallets: Made from a renewable resource (timber), biodegradable at end-of-life. But logging has environmental costs, and many wooden pallets end up in landfill rather than being recycled or composted. Carbon stored in the wood is released if the pallet is burned or allowed to decompose.

Plastic pallets: Made from fossil fuels (petroleum-based polymers). Not biodegradable—they persist in landfill for hundreds of years. But they’re highly reusable, which spreads the manufacturing footprint over many uses. Some manufacturers now offer recycled-content plastic pallets, which reduces virgin plastic use.

Composite pallets: Often made from waste wood (sawdust, chips) mixed with binding agents. This repurposes material that would otherwise be waste. End-of-life is problematic because the resin bonding makes them difficult to recycle as pure wood.

Corrugated pallets: Made from paper, which is renewable and widely recyclable. Low environmental footprint if made from recycled material and recycled after use. But single-use applications mean high throughput of material.

A lifecycle assessment published by CSIRO in 2024 compared the environmental impact of different pallet types across Australian supply chains. The conclusion was nuanced: reusable plastic pallets had lower overall environmental impact than single-use wood or corrugated pallets if the return logistics were efficient and the pallets were reused at least 20-30 times. But in one-way shipping scenarios, wood had lower impact than plastic.

Biosecurity Perspective

From a pure quarantine and biosecurity standpoint, non-wood alternatives are unambiguously better. They eliminate the pathway for wood-boring insects, nematodes, and fungi that solid wood can carry.

Australia’s Department of Agriculture doesn’t require inspection or treatment for plastic, metal, or corrugated packaging. This reduces border inspection time and eliminates the risk of non-compliance with ISPM-15 that can lead to consignment delays or rejections.

For exporters shipping to Australia, using plastic or composite pallets removes a compliance headache. For importers, it reduces the risk of biosecurity holds at the border.

But it’s worth noting that while non-wood pallets don’t carry wood pests, they can still carry soil, seeds, or insects as external contaminants. A plastic pallet used in a warehouse that had a pest infestation can carry hitchhiker pests just as easily as a wooden pallet. So “pest-proof packaging” is somewhat of a misnomer—it’s more accurately “wood pest-proof.”

Practical Decision Framework

If you’re deciding between wood and alternative packaging, consider:

For high-value, reusable logistics networks (e.g., supermarket distribution, automotive parts): Plastic pallets make sense. The higher upfront cost is justified by durability and reduced handling time at borders.

For one-way international shipping (export goods that won’t return): Solid wood with ISPM-15 treatment is usually most cost-effective, unless the consignment is lightweight enough for corrugated pallets.

For environmentally-conscious companies with budget flexibility: Composite pallets from recycled wood or recycled-plastic pallets offer a middle ground between environmental responsibility and practical performance.

For air freight or lightweight goods: Corrugated or engineered wood pallets reduce freight costs due to lower weight.

For hazardous materials or food products requiring hygiene: Plastic pallets are easier to clean and don’t absorb spills like wood does.

The Likely Future

Long-term trends suggest a gradual shift away from solid wood packaging for international shipping, driven by:

• Stricter biosecurity regulations as pest risks increase
• Growing emphasis on supply chain sustainability
• Increased availability of recycled-content alternative materials
• Logistics network consolidation that favours reusable systems

But solid wood pallets aren’t disappearing anytime soon. They’re too cheap, too widely available, and too functional for bulk one-way shipping. ISPM-15 treatment requirements will remain for the foreseeable future, and companies will continue using treated wood where it makes economic sense.

The real question isn’t whether alternatives are “better” in absolute terms—it’s whether they’re better for your specific supply chain, volume, and cost structure. There’s no universal answer.