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

How North Carolina compares

Across 590 establishments, warehousing and storage in North Carolina employed 54,551 people in 2025. That is 2.87% of the national total and puts the state 11th of 50, with an average of 92.5 jobs per site.

The state sits in the South Atlantic, a Census division. Its sites average 92.5 jobs against 81.5 across the country, and it holds 2.53% of the nation's warehousing establishments.

Where the warehousing jobs sit in North Carolina

The counties with the most warehousing jobs, from the same BLS count: Mecklenburg (12,290), Wake (6,635) and Guilford (4,160).

• Mecklenburg County12,290 jobs, 22.5% of the North Carolina total.
• Wake County6,635 jobs, 12.2% of the North Carolina total.
• Guilford County4,160 jobs, 7.6% of the North Carolina total.

What fills the yards in North Carolina

4 further industries are named in the market data for North Carolina. Each retires pallets for its own reasons.

• Chemical manufacturing47,758 private jobs in 2025, 5.4% of the US total. 48 x 48 pallets for four 55-gallon drums without overhang, 45 x 45 CP9 pallets for bags and boxes, often heavy-duty with sumps. Chemical resistance is why plastic is chosen. Wear, leaks and spills retire them. CP9 changes retire a whole footprint. In a pile from here, photograph any staining and the drum seats.
• Meat and poultry processing35,715 private jobs in 2025, 6.4% 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. In a pile from here, photograph the surface condition, close up.
• Plastics product manufacturing27,700 private jobs in 2025, 4.8% 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. In a pile from here, photograph moulded codes and maker marks.
• Pharmaceutical and medicine manufacturing26,998 private jobs in 2025, 7.7% of the US total. Validation changes, cleanroom upgrades and audits retire pallets in lots. Pallets are often kept sound and retired for compliance, not damage. In a pile from here, photograph the deck surface and any batch plates.

The rest of North Carolina's pallet economy

Private jobs in 2025: food manufacturing 61,441, pharmaceutical manufacturing 26,998 and auto parts 13,690. Measured against the national share of employment, pharmaceutical and medicine manufacturing is the most concentrated pallet-using industry here, at 2.4 times.

What the size of the state means

North Carolina 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 South Atlantic

Against North Carolina's 54,551 warehousing jobs, the largest metros in the same division are Atlanta, Georgia (49,050, 0.90 times), Miami, Florida (22,104, 0.41 times), Jacksonville, Florida (15,384, 0.28 times), Orlando, Florida (13,928, 0.26 times), Tampa, Florida (13,205, 0.24 times) and Savannah, Georgia (6,384, 0.12 times).

Next to North Carolina

The table sets the warehousing counts of Georgia, South Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia against North Carolina.

Metros we cover in North Carolina

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

• Charlotte-Concord-Gastonia18,437 warehousing jobs, 23rd of 60 metros. ZIPs 28273, 28269, 29730.

Marked pallets in North Carolina

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

Describing a North Carolina load

Three facts first for North Carolina: ZIP, count, footprint. Pallets from meat and poultry processing want the surface condition, close up photographed; chemical manufacturing pallets want any staining and the drum seats photographed.