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

How Kentucky compares

Kentucky ranks 17th of the 50 states for private warehousing and storage jobs, with 38,281 in 2025 across 430 establishments. A typical site employs 89.0 people.

The state sits in the East South Central states, a Census division. Its sites average 89.0 jobs against 81.5 across the country, and it holds 1.84% of the nation's warehousing establishments.

Where the warehousing jobs sit in Kentucky

The counties with the most warehousing jobs, from the same BLS count: Boone (9,121), Bullitt (7,642) and Jefferson (6,859).

• Boone County9,121 jobs, 23.8% of the Kentucky total.
• Bullitt County7,642 jobs, 20.0% of the Kentucky total.
• Jefferson County6,859 jobs, 17.9% of the Kentucky total.

What fills the yards in Kentucky

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

• Warehousing and storage38,281 private jobs in 2025, 2.0% of the US total. General-purpose 48 x 40 pallets, nestables for empty storage and rackables on beams. Warehouses hold the widest mix of styles of any industry here, so mixed resin and mixed colour piles are normal. Check the strays first. Then separate the rackables, which are usually PP, from the nestables, which are usually HDPE. Describe each stack as its own line. In a pile from here, photograph the yard stacks, from the dock side.
• Motor vehicle parts manufacturing32,261 private jobs in 2025, 6.2% 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. Uniform stock is easy to describe: one footprint, one colour, one maker. Say if oil or metal swarf was on the decks. In a pile from here, photograph the stack and a runner close up.
• Motor vehicle manufacturing23,308 private jobs in 2025, 8.1% of the US total. 48 x 45 pallets matched to bulk containers for parts, heavy duty, closed loop with known sites. In a pile from here, photograph the plant or supplier markings.
• Plastics product manufacturing13,820 private jobs in 2025, 2.4% 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. In a pile from here, photograph moulded codes and maker marks.
• Beverage manufacturing10,105 private jobs in 2025, 3.2% of the US total. Heavy glass and can loads crush runners over time. Route changes and returnable programmes retire whole sets. Weather in outdoor yards ages the surface. Beverage pallets at 56 x 44 and 48 x 40, stackable for heavy static loads. PHS lists a 56 x 44 beverage pallet at 30,000 lb static. In a pile from here, photograph the runners and the model plate.

The rest of Kentucky's pallet economy

Private jobs in 2025: food manufacturing 31,273, pharmaceutical manufacturing 2,045, motor vehicle assembly 23,308 and auto parts 32,261. Measured against the national share of employment, motor vehicle manufacturing is the most concentrated pallet-using industry here, at 6.3 times.

Cold storage in Kentucky

USDA counted 24 million cubic feet of gross refrigerated warehouse space in Kentucky on October 1, 2025, 28th of 36 states. Cold stores wear pallets differently, and the refrigerated warehousing page says how.

What the size of the state means

Kentucky 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 Kentucky's 38,281 warehousing jobs, the largest metros in the same division are Memphis, Tennessee (27,742, 0.72 times), Nashville, Tennessee (19,548, 0.51 times) and Knoxville, Tennessee (1,751, 0.05 times).

Next to Kentucky

The table sets the warehousing counts of Illinois, Indiana, Missouri, Ohio, Tennessee, Virginia and West Virginia against Kentucky.

Metros we cover in Kentucky

Louisville/Jefferson County each have a page with ZIPs, counties and a corridor note.

• Louisville/Jefferson County14,533 warehousing jobs, 29th of 60 metros. ZIPs 47130, 40258, 40299.

Marked pallets in Kentucky

We found no Kentucky law on abandoned pooled pallets in the sources behind this page. A mark still means a likely owner, so Kentucky loads get the same ownership check as any other.

Describing a Kentucky load

Begin with the Kentucky ZIP and the count, then the footprint. A warehousing and storage pile calls for photos of the yard stacks, from the dock side. For motor vehicle parts manufacturing, take the stack and a runner close up.