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

How Ohio compares

Ohio ranks 5th of the 50 states for private warehousing and storage jobs, with 98,354 in 2025 across 1,022 establishments. A typical site employs 96.2 people.

The state sits in the East North Central states, a Census division. Its sites average 96.2 jobs against 81.5 across the country, and it holds 4.38% of the nation's warehousing establishments.

Where the warehousing jobs sit in Ohio

The counties with the most warehousing jobs, from the same BLS count: Franklin (18,179), Cuyahoga (12,498) and Madison (7,480).

• Franklin County18,179 jobs, 18.5% of the Ohio total.
• Cuyahoga County12,498 jobs, 12.7% of the Ohio total.
• Madison County7,480 jobs, 7.6% of the Ohio total.

What fills the yards in Ohio

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

• Motor vehicle parts manufacturing62,025 private jobs in 2025, 11.9% 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.
• Chemical manufacturing49,328 private jobs in 2025, 5.5% of the US total. Chemical resistance is why plastic is chosen. Wear, leaks and spills retire them. CP9 changes retire a whole footprint. 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. In a pile from here, photograph any staining and the drum seats.
• Plastics product manufacturing42,286 private jobs in 2025, 7.4% 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. 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.
• Motor vehicle manufacturing19,070 private jobs in 2025, 6.6% of the US total. 48 x 45 pallets matched to bulk containers for parts, heavy duty, closed loop with known sites. 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. In a pile from here, photograph the plant or supplier markings.
• Fruit and vegetable preserving10,327 private jobs in 2025, 5.9% of the US total. Sticky residue grinds badly. Rinse where you can and say where you cannot. Count by footprint, because 56 x 44 and 48 x 40 are separate jobs. 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 Ohio's pallet economy

Private jobs in 2025: food manufacturing 66,120, pharmaceutical manufacturing 7,365, motor vehicle assembly 19,070 and auto parts 62,025. Measured against the national share of employment, motor vehicle parts manufacturing is the most concentrated pallet-using industry here, at 3.3 times.

Cold storage in Ohio

USDA counted 74 million cubic feet of gross refrigerated warehouse space in Ohio on October 1, 2025, 16th of 36 states. Cold stores wear pallets differently, and the refrigerated warehousing page says how.

What the size of the state means

Ohio is one of the ten biggest warehouse states, so a load here usually comes from a cluster and not an outlier. Expect several footprints and a mix of owned and pooled pallets, and describe each stack as its own line.

Big metros elsewhere in the East North Central states

Against Ohio's 98,354 warehousing jobs, the largest metros in the same division are Chicago, Illinois (59,586, 0.61 times), Indianapolis, Indiana (41,067, 0.42 times), Detroit, Michigan (30,083, 0.31 times), Milwaukee, Wisconsin (8,262, 0.08 times), Grand Rapids, Michigan (3,125, 0.03 times) and Green Bay, Wisconsin (584, 0.01 times).

Next to Ohio

The table sets the warehousing counts of Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Pennsylvania and West Virginia against Ohio.

Metros we cover in Ohio

Columbus, Cincinnati and Cleveland each have a page with ZIPs, counties and a corridor note.

• Columbus34,200 warehousing jobs, 9th of 60 metros. ZIPs 43137, 43125, 43228.
• Cincinnati19,940 warehousing jobs, 19th of 60 metros. ZIPs 41048, 45246, 45069.
• Cleveland13,652 warehousing jobs, 31st of 60 metros. ZIPs 44139, 44149, 44146.

Marked pallets in Ohio

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

Describing a Ohio load

Begin with the Ohio ZIP and the count, then the footprint. A motor vehicle parts manufacturing pile calls for photos of the stack and a runner close up. For chemical manufacturing, take any staining and the drum seats.