Recycling 1100 x 1100 mm plastic pallets: who retires them and how a load is sorted

What a 1100 x 1100 mm pallet is

Used in Asia, in Japan, Korea and China. Square and often reversible. It matches the 43 x 43 in family used for bulk bags, though the millimetre size is the true one.

Who retires it

Importers of equipment or ingredients packed on Asian pallets. These arrive in lots and are retired together.

How the sort goes

Reversible pallets wear on both faces. Check both. Importers often keep small numbers, so counts are low.

What a 1100 x 1100 mm load needs to describe

Say where they came from and whether any carry a shipper’s mark. Then the count, the resin, the colour, any marks and the ZIP.

Size matters for the trailer. Deck area here is 13.0 sq ft, and 1200 x 1000 mm is next closest at 12.9 sq ft, so check you have not got the two mixed together.

Reading the measurements

The deck is 43.3 inches by 43.3 inches, which is 1100 by 1100 millimetres, 1,874.89 square inches or 1.210 square metres. The diagonal is 61.2 inches. In shape it is square, with a long side 1.00 times the short one.

If a pallet in the pile measures within an inch of 43.3 by 43.3 but not exactly, it may be a metric cousin. The table of every footprint shows which ones are close.

Edges and corners of the 43.3 x 43.3 deck

The deck edge runs 173.2 inches all the way round, which is 14.4 feet, and every foot of it is a place where a fork strikes, a rack beam bears or a strap bites. Four sound corners on a 1,874.89 square inch deck mean the pallet may be reusable; four broken ones usually mean the grinder.

Describing a 43.3 x 43.3 lot

Tell us how many 43.3 x 43.3 pallets there are, what colour they are and whether the decks are whole. Loose or banded matters to the driver. One picture of an underside, showing any steel and the maker mark, answers questions the reply would otherwise have to ask.

Where 1100 x 1100 piles turn up

Importers of equipment and ingredients packed on Asian pallets. The sources describe the size as Asian, used in Japan, Korea and China, square and often reversible. Stock arrives as an import lot and retires together.

Shipper marks

A pallet from an overseas shipper may carry a name, a mark or a tag. Photograph them. An overseas mark is an ownership question first, and a recycling question second.