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

How South Dakota compares

South Dakota ranks 43rd of the 50 states for private warehousing and storage jobs, with 3,269 in 2025 across 42 establishments. A typical site employs 77.8 people.

The state sits in the West North Central states, a Census division. Its sites average 77.8 jobs against 81.5 across the country, and it holds 0.18% of the nation's warehousing establishments.

Where the warehousing jobs sit in South Dakota

The counties with the most warehousing jobs, from the same BLS count: Minnehaha (2,930), Pennington (33) and Union (25).

• Minnehaha County2,930 jobs, 89.6% of the South Dakota total.
• Pennington County33 jobs, 1.0% of the South Dakota total.
• Union County25 jobs, 0.8% of the South Dakota total.

What fills the yards in South Dakota

3 further industries are named in the market data for South Dakota. Each retires pallets for its own reasons.

• Food manufacturing10,866 private jobs in 2025, 0.6% 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. In a pile from here, photograph the deck surface and any staining.
• Meat and poultry processing6,460 private jobs in 2025, 1.2% 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.
• Dairy product manufacturing1,510 private jobs in 2025, 0.9% 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. In a pile from here, photograph the colour code and any cracks.

The rest of South Dakota's pallet economy

Private jobs in 2025: food manufacturing 10,866 and auto parts 662. Measured against the national share of employment, meat and poultry processing is the most concentrated pallet-using industry here, at 4.0 times.

Cold storage in South Dakota

USDA counted 23 million cubic feet of gross refrigerated warehouse space in South Dakota on October 1, 2025, 29th of 36 states. Cold stores wear pallets differently, and the refrigerated warehousing page says how.

What the size of the state means

South Dakota is among the smaller warehouse states, so a pile here may be far from the next one. Say whether the load can be held, whether the pallets are reachable by truck, and how many there are.

Big metros elsewhere in the West North Central states

Against South Dakota's 3,269 warehousing jobs, the largest metros in the same division are Kansas City, Missouri (20,676, 6.32 times), St. Louis, Missouri (16,879, 5.16 times), Minneapolis, Minnesota (6,599, 2.02 times), Omaha, Nebraska (5,157, 1.58 times) and Des Moines, Iowa (4,393, 1.34 times).

Next to South Dakota

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

Metros we cover in South Dakota

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

• Sioux Falls2,930 warehousing jobs, 52nd of 60 metros. ZIPs 57104.

Marked pallets in South Dakota

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

Describing a South Dakota load

Three facts first for South Dakota: 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.