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

How Minnesota compares

Across 312 establishments, warehousing and storage in Minnesota employed 17,921 people in 2025. That is 0.94% of the national total and puts the state 31st of 50, with an average of 57.4 jobs per site.

The state sits in the West North Central states, a Census division. Its sites average 57.4 jobs against 81.5 across the country, and it holds 1.34% of the nation's warehousing establishments.

Where the warehousing jobs sit in Minnesota

The counties with the most warehousing jobs, from the same BLS count: Hennepin (3,616), Anoka (1,119) and Washington (779).

• Hennepin County3,616 jobs, 20.2% of the Minnesota total.
• Anoka County1,119 jobs, 6.2% of the Minnesota total.
• Washington County779 jobs, 4.3% of the Minnesota total.

What fills the yards in Minnesota

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

• Food manufacturing47,829 private jobs in 2025, 2.7% of the US total. 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. Sanitation audits remove cracked or stained pallets. A change of packaging line retires a colour-coded set. Pallets that held ingredients with strong odours or oils are culled early. In a pile from here, photograph the deck surface and any staining.
• Meat and poultry processing17,525 private jobs in 2025, 3.1% of the US total. Washdown, grease and thermal cycling. Pallets are retired when the surface cannot be sanitised. Plant remodels retire whole colour-coded sets. Grease and organic residue are contamination. Say how the pallets were cleaned. A degreased, dry load is a normal stream. A greasy one needs a conversation. In a pile from here, photograph the surface condition, close up.
• Plastics product manufacturing14,511 private jobs in 2025, 2.5% of the US total. Pallets for resin bags and finished goods, 48 x 40 and 43 x 43 for bulk bags. Moulders may also make pallets. 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.
• Dairy product manufacturing5,085 private jobs in 2025, 3.0% of the US total. Cold-room cycles and wash chemistry. Dairy residue and milk fats cling to textured decks. Pallets are replaced on a schedule or when a crack harbours residue. Hygienic 48 x 40 pallets in HDPE or PP, closed deck, easy to wash, used through chill rooms and dispatch. In a pile from here, photograph the colour code and any cracks.
• Fruit and vegetable preserving4,721 private jobs in 2025, 2.7% of the US total. Beverage-style 56 x 44 and 48 x 40 pallets for cans and jars, plus 43 x 43 bulk bag pallets for additives and ingredients. A pack season ends and the yard is cleared. Sugar and acid residue stain decks. A customer standard change retires a footprint. In a pile from here, photograph a stack from the side, and a stained deck.

The rest of Minnesota's pallet economy

Private jobs in 2025: food manufacturing 47,829, pharmaceutical manufacturing 5,458 and auto parts 2,028. Measured against the national share of employment, meat and poultry processing is the most concentrated pallet-using industry here, at 1.6 times.

Cold storage in Minnesota

USDA counted 105 million cubic feet of gross refrigerated warehouse space in Minnesota on October 1, 2025, 11th of 36 states. Cold stores wear pallets differently, and the refrigerated warehousing page says how.

What the size of the state means

Minnesota 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 West North Central states

Against Minnesota's 17,921 warehousing jobs, the largest metros in the same division are Kansas City, Missouri (20,676, 1.15 times), St. Louis, Missouri (16,879, 0.94 times), Omaha, Nebraska (5,157, 0.29 times), Des Moines, Iowa (4,393, 0.25 times) and Sioux Falls, South Dakota (2,930, 0.16 times).

Next to Minnesota

The table sets the warehousing counts of Iowa, North Dakota, South Dakota and Wisconsin against Minnesota.

Metros we cover in Minnesota

Minneapolis each have a page with ZIPs, counties and a corridor note.

• Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington6,599 warehousing jobs, 41st of 60 metros. ZIPs 55121, 55113, 55428.

Marked pallets in Minnesota

Minnesota has no rule we can cite on stray proprietary pallets. Until an owner is ruled out by the marks, nothing in a Minnesota load is ground.

Describing a Minnesota load

Three facts first for Minnesota: ZIP, count, footprint. Pallets from meat and poultry processing want the surface condition, close up photographed; food manufacturing pallets want the deck surface and any staining photographed.