Plastic pallet recycling in Alabama: what the yards hold and where it goes

How Alabama compares

Alabama ranks 26th of the 50 states for private warehousing and storage jobs, with 21,880 in 2025 across 306 establishments. A typical site employs 71.5 people.

The state sits in the East South Central states, a Census division. Its sites average 71.5 jobs against 81.5 across the country, and it holds 1.31% of the nation's warehousing establishments.

Where the warehousing jobs sit in Alabama

The counties with the most warehousing jobs, from the same BLS count: Jefferson (6,920), Mobile (2,677) and Montgomery (1,955).

• Jefferson County6,920 jobs, 31.6% of the Alabama total.
• Mobile County2,677 jobs, 12.2% of the Alabama total.
• Montgomery County1,955 jobs, 8.9% of the Alabama total.

What fills the yards in Alabama

5 further industries are named in the market data for Alabama. Each retires pallets for its own reasons.

• Food manufacturing33,728 private jobs in 2025, 1.9% of the US total. Hygienic 48 x 40 and 40 x 48 pallets in HDPE or PP, often with closed decks and colour-coding by zone. Some are listed as food safe but not approved for direct food contact. Say what the pallets carried. A load that touched edible oil is a different bin from a load that sat under sealed cartons. FDA does not approve pallet models, and recycled regrind is not made for food contact. In a pile from here, photograph the deck surface and any staining.
• Motor vehicle parts manufacturing29,218 private jobs in 2025, 5.6% of the US total. 48 x 45 pallets matching heavy auto parts bulk containers, and 48 x 40 for general parts flows. Often heavy-duty HDPE with high static ratings. In a pile from here, photograph the stack and a runner close up.
• Meat and poultry processing24,973 private jobs in 2025, 4.5% of the US total. Washdown-grade 48 x 40 pallets, often HDPE, in cold and wet rooms. Colour coding separates raw from cooked zones. Washdown, grease and thermal cycling. Pallets are retired when the surface cannot be sanitised. Plant remodels retire whole colour-coded sets. In a pile from here, photograph the surface condition, close up.
• Motor vehicle manufacturing22,311 private jobs in 2025, 7.7% of the US total. 48 x 45 pallets matched to bulk containers for parts, heavy duty, closed loop with known sites. Closed-loop pallets often carry plant or supplier marks. Check the marks. These are usually company-owned, so ownership is known, but it must be confirmed. In a pile from here, photograph the plant or supplier markings.
• Plastics product manufacturing14,217 private jobs in 2025, 2.5% of the US total. Retired stock after a product line ends. Some processors regrind their own scrap, and a pallet pile is one more feedstock. Plastics plants know resin. Say what you know. They are also the likeliest to want sorted regrind, so mention if you can take flake back. In a pile from here, photograph moulded codes and maker marks.

The rest of Alabama's pallet economy

Private jobs in 2025: food manufacturing 33,728, pharmaceutical manufacturing 1,535, motor vehicle assembly 22,311 and auto parts 29,218. Measured against the national share of employment, motor vehicle manufacturing is the most concentrated pallet-using industry here, at 6.0 times.

Cold storage in Alabama

USDA counted 43 million cubic feet of gross refrigerated warehouse space in Alabama on October 1, 2025, 26th of 36 states. Cold stores wear pallets differently, and the refrigerated warehousing page says how.

What the size of the state means

Alabama is a mid-table warehouse state. The jobs sit in a few places, and a pile outside them is the exception. Give the ZIP early, because distance to the nearest cluster decides how a load is placed.

Big metros elsewhere in the East South Central states

Against Alabama's 21,880 warehousing jobs, the largest metros in the same division are Memphis, Tennessee (27,742, 1.27 times), Nashville, Tennessee (19,548, 0.89 times), Louisville/Jefferson County, Kentucky (14,533, 0.66 times) and Knoxville, Tennessee (1,751, 0.08 times).

Next to Alabama

The table sets the warehousing counts of Florida, Georgia, Mississippi and Tennessee against Alabama.

Loads from the rest of Alabama

Alabama has no metro page yet. A load from anywhere in the state goes the same way: ZIP, count, what the pallets carried, and we say which lane suits it.

Marked pallets in Alabama

No Alabama-specific rule on stray proprietary pallets appears in our sources. Check every pallet for marks first; California's AB 1760 is the one rule we cite.

Describing a Alabama load

For a Alabama pickup: ZIP, count, footprint. From food manufacturing, photograph the deck surface and any staining. From motor vehicle parts manufacturing, photograph the stack and a runner close up.