- Home construction is the only industry in the United States that uses more new wood than pallets. A wooden shipping pallet has to meet certain specifications to continue in useful life. Once the boards break or other damage occurs, these pallets are simply cast aside by the transportation or distribution companies that use them to support forklift loads. Look around many distribution centers and you will likely find shipping pallets in various states of disrepair.
- The primary parts of wooden shipping pallets are standard-sized slats or boards, usually made of low-cost lumber like pine or birch. Some may be returned to use as a restored transportation device. Others can be recycled to produce a variety of ecologically friendly products that decrease waste in our environment. Renewing wooden shipping pallets only requires basic carpentry skills. Remove damaged components and replace with newer wood. The restored used pallets will fetch a fair price, considering the small investment. Deconstructing wooden pallets is relatively easy. The reclaimed wood can then be used to create furniture, pet supplies like bedding and bird houses, fences, mulch, and building materials like particleboard.
- The majority of discarded pallets can be obtained free. The main reason is that the pallet users are not in the recycling business. To conform to sanitary codes and other regulations, they must remove the broken pallets at their own expense. Pallet recyclers provide a useful service to the business owners by relieving them of the burden of the additional expense of getting broken pallets back into circulation.
- Two pallet recycling business models have emerged. One business or organization simply locates and removes the pallets. This business profits from resale of the damaged pallets to interested recyclers. A second model is a business that restores pallets or recycles the available material in pallets. The initial model requires that the business owner develop an efficient, profitable process for picking up pallets and transferring them to recyclers. The second model requires a system for deconstructing or repairing the pallets. In addition, this business must locate a market for the recycled pallets or products. Combining these pallet recycling business models is also an option.
- Even plastic shipping pallets can be recycled, using crumbing devices designed to create plastic pellets. These pellets can be sold or transformed for new uses including playground equipment, industrial floor mats or molded landscape accessories and patio furniture. Since special machinery is needed, operations costs are higher. Additional safety laws and environmental regulations apply to plastic recycling. However, these pallets will also wind up in landfills if they are not recycled.
