Plastic pallet recycling in Detroit: ZIPs, industries and the loads they leave behind

Detroit in the numbers

With 30,083 private warehousing and storage jobs in 2025, Detroit stands 11th of 60 metros in our data, 1.58% of the country. Only counties with disclosed figures are counted, so the true number is a little higher.

It spans 6 counties: Wayne, Lapeer, Livingston, Macomb, Oakland and St. Clair. Warehousing is 1.8% of private jobs there, and the metro holds 73.8% of Michigan's 40,753 warehousing jobs. 5 ZIP codes stand out for sites, led by 48150 (Livonia, 19).

County by county

The largest warehousing counties in the metro: Wayne (22,255), Oakland (4,113) and Macomb (3,556).

• Wayne County22,255 jobs, 74.0% of the metro's disclosed total.
• Oakland County4,113 jobs, 13.7% of the metro's disclosed total.
• Macomb County3,556 jobs, 11.8% of the metro's disclosed total.

The industries behind the loads

2 industries are named for the Detroit metro. The most concentrated is motor vehicle parts manufacturing, at 9.4 times the national share of employment.

• Motor vehicle parts manufacturing62,892 jobs in 2025, 12.07% of the US total. 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 manufacturing24,923 jobs in 2025, 8.63% of the US total. A model change or a supplier change retires a footprint. Heavy dynamic loads wear runners. Plants run returnable programmes, so pallets that leave the loop are noticed. 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.

On the freight lanes: I-75 and I-94

Detroit sits on I-75, which runs from I-75 is 1,786 miles long, from the Hialeah-Miami Lakes border in Florida to Sault Ste. The metros we track on it hold 136,133 private warehousing jobs, 7.2% of the US total (disclosed counties only). Also on it: Atlanta (49,050), Knoxville (1,751), Cincinnati (19,940), Miami (22,104) and Tampa (13,205).

Detroit sits on I-94, which runs from east of Billings, Montana, to Port Huron, Michigan, at the Blue Water Bridge to Canada, and is the only east-west Interstate with a direct Canadian connection. The metros we track on it hold 104,530 private warehousing jobs, 5.5% of the US total (disclosed counties only). Also on it: Chicago (59,586), Minneapolis (6,599) and Milwaukee (8,262).

Metros of a similar size

By warehousing jobs the nearest metros are Stockton (28,518), Las Vegas (28,250) and Memphis (27,742).

Elsewhere in Michigan

Grand Rapids (3,125 jobs, 0.10 times Detroit, busiest ZIP 49512) is the other metro we cover in Michigan, which has 40,753 warehousing jobs in all.

What the size of the market means

A market this size is made of many separate sites, so a pile in Detroit is rarely the only one nearby. Large distribution clusters bring pooled pallets and mixed footprints into the same trailer, which is why the marks and the sizes get listed before anything else.

What a Detroit load looks like

Expect motor vehicle parts manufacturing first: 62,892 jobs in 2025. Photograph the stack and a runner close up and, for motor vehicle manufacturing, the plant or supplier markings. Say the ZIP, the count and the footprint. Any Detroit pallet with a name, tag or odd colour waits for an owner check.