Bulletin 190 · footprints
A retired 56 x 44 in beverage plastic pallet is sorted by resin, colour and condition, then reused or ground into regrind. Beverage pallet, also 56x44 glass and can models.
Five questions and a photo. We say what we think happens next once the pallets have been seen.
The beverage pallet, with 56 x 44 glass and can models. PHS lists STK 285 with a dynamic rating of 2,500 lb and a static rating of 30,000 lb. Stackable, heavy and wide.
Bottlers and brewers after a route or can-size change. Whole sets retire together.
Heavy loads crush runners, so check the underside before calling a pallet sound. Wide pallets take more trailer width per pallet.
Give the model if you have it, and say how many layers they were stacked. Then the count, the resin, the colour, any marks and the ZIP.
Size matters for the trailer. Deck area here is 17.1 sq ft, and 48 x 48 is next closest at 16.0 sq ft, so check you have not got the two mixed together.
The deck is 56 inches by 44 inches, which is 1422 by 1118 millimetres, 2,464 square inches or 1.590 square metres. The diagonal is 71.2 inches. In shape it is a modest rectangle, with a long side 1.27 times the short one.
Square pallets are easy to rotate, while rectangular ones are not. A 56 by 44 pile should be stacked with the long sides together.
The deck edge runs 200 inches all the way round, which is 16.7 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 2,464 square inch deck mean the pallet may be reusable; four broken ones usually mean the grinder.
Tell us how many 56 x 44 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.
Bottlers, brewers and canners. A glass or can model is built to carry heavy loads in tall layers, which is why the size appears with a very high static rating in the sources. A retired set often comes from a route or can-size change.
Say how many layers the pallets carried and what the product was. Glass and cans leave different wear. A pallet that carried tall layers of glass may have deformed in a way that is visible from the side.
| Measure | Value |
|---|---|
| Deck, inches | 56 x 44 |
| Deck, millimetres | 1422 x 1118 |
| Deck area | 17.1 sq ft |
| Against a 48 x 40 | +28.3% deck area |
| Example (STK 285) | Dynamic 2,500 lb, static 30,000 lb |
| Footprint | Deck, in | Deck area, sq ft | Area against this | Width difference | Depth difference |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 48 x 40 | 48 x 40 | 13.3 | -22.1% | -8 in | -4 in |
| 48 x 48 | 48 x 48 | 16.0 | -6.5% | -8 in | +4 in |
| 48 x 45 | 48 x 45 | 15.0 | -12.3% | -8 in | +1 in |
| 45 x 45 | 45 x 45 | 14.1 | -17.8% | -11 in | +1 in |
| 43 x 43 | 43 x 43 | 12.8 | -25.0% | -13 in | -1 in |
| 42 x 42 | 42 x 42 | 12.3 | -28.4% | -14 in | -2 in |
| 40 x 40 | 40 x 40 | 11.1 | -35.1% | -16 in | -4 in |
| 36 x 36 | 36 x 36 | 9.0 | -47.4% | -20 in | -8 in |
| Euro 48 x 32 | 47.2 x 31.5 | 10.3 | -39.7% | -8.8 in | -12.5 in |
| 1200 x 1000 mm | 47.2 x 39.4 | 12.9 | -24.5% | -8.8 in | -4.6 in |
| 1100 x 1100 mm | 43.3 x 43.3 | 13.0 | -23.9% | -12.7 in | -0.7 in |
| Measure | Inches | Millimetres | Centimetres | Feet |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Width | 56 | 1422 | 142.2 | 4.67 |
| Depth | 44 | 1118 | 111.8 | 3.67 |
| Diagonal | 71.2 | 1809 | 180.9 | 5.93 |
| Pallets | Square feet | Square metres |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 17.1 | 1.6 |
| 10 | 171.1 | 15.9 |
| 25 | 427.8 | 39.7 |
| 50 | 855.6 | 79.5 |
| 100 | 1711.1 | 159.0 |
| 250 | 4277.8 | 397.4 |
| 500 | 8555.6 | 794.8 |
Example (STK 285): Dynamic 2,500 lb, static 30,000 lb.
Yes. Describe the count, the resin and the condition, and say how the pallets are stacked. We say what we think happens next.
Measure the deck. This one is 56 x 44 in, 1422 x 1118 mm. 48 x 48 is 16.0 sq ft, against 17.1 here.
The size suits beverage layers and is listed in the sources under beverage models.
The sources give a model with a static rating of 30,000 lb, so heavy models exist.
Sources, reviewed Nov 12, 2026: phsinc.com.