Bulletin 030 · recycled pallets

Pallets made from recycled plastic: from scrap to mould

Last reviewed Nov 12, 20267 stages

The short answer

Pallets made from recycled plastic start as damaged pallets, scrap and industrial offcuts. They are sorted, ground into regrind, melted and moulded, usually by injection moulding.

Some blend regrind with virgin resin. Ask what blend you are buying.

Got a load like this?

Five questions and a photo. We say what we think happens next once the pallets have been seen.

Send a load Find your area

A pallet is shredded and ground to flake, sorted by resin and colour, and moulded into a pallet again.

From scrap to feedstock

Racklify describes it as collected, sorted by bale grade with contaminants removed, cleaned and dried, then shredded or granulated into regrind. The scrap pallet is the input.

From regrind to pallet

Melted and formed by extrusion or injection moulding. Rehrig’s 40 x 48 rackable is high-pressure injection moulded. A pallet is thick, so the mould is big and the cycle is long.

Blends

Some recycled pallets blend recycled and virgin polymer. The blend affects strength, colour and cost. Rehrig quotes its higher recycled-content figures in black and lower ones in colour.

Eco CP3 as an example

Made from 100 percent recycled polyethylene with at least 95 percent polymer purity, rated for at least 25 reuse cycles, and recyclable again.

Why the blend matters

Recycled resin can vary from batch to batch, so makers often blend it with virgin resin or with a recycled stream they trust. The blend affects strength and colour.

What the paperwork should show

The proportion, the type of recycled content, the date and the test that supports the rating. A pallet with no paperwork is a pallet with a claim.

A pallet is a thick part

Moulding a pallet needs a big machine and a long cycle. That is one reason pallets are made in a small number of plants.

From scrap to pallet

Stage	Handled by	Output
Collect and sort	Recycler	Clean feedstock
Grind	Processor	Regrind
Mould	Pallet maker	Pallet
Use and retire	You	Scrap again

What the sources say

rehrigpacific.comRehrig Pacific offers the standard-duty nestable with recycled content of up to 90 percent in black, and describes it as 100 percent recyclable.
rehrigpacific.comRehrig Pacific's heavy-duty nestable can be made with post-consumer or post-industrial recycled material, up to 30 percent in black and up to 10 percent in colour, and is RFID compatible.
en.wikipedia.orgPlastic pallets are made by injection molding, structural foam molding, thermoforming, compression molding, rotational molding and profile extrusion.
nelsoncompany.comFor products touching the pallet directly, stricter federal requirements may call for non-blended virgin HDPE; recycled pallets often meet general FDA needs.
iccsafe.orgAn ICC article says unlisted plastic pallets may require raising the commodity hazard class by two classes, and gives an example needing about 55 percent more sprinkler water.
en.wikipedia.orgHDPE has resin identification code 2, a density of 930 to 970 kg/m3, melts at 131.8 C and is hard to glue, so joints are usually welded.
nelsoncompany.comAdvanced composite material pallets are 100 percent recycled polyolefins, cheaper with a shorter life, and suit export where the pallet is not returned.
en.wikipedia.orgResin identification codes do not indicate whether a product is recyclable; ASTM D7611 governs the coding.
nelsoncompany.comFreezing can make some pallet materials brittle and reduce performance.
en.wikipedia.orgMetal pallets are under 1 percent of the pallet market.
en.wikipedia.orgThe 48 x 40 in GMA pallet makes up about 30 percent of new US wood pallets.
rehrigpacific.comRehrig Pacific's rackable pallet has a two-piece snap-lock design for quick repair and options for FDA-approved colours, RFID and up to 15 percent black recycled content.
en.wikipedia.orgAbout 500 million pallets are made each year as of 2020, with about 2 billion in use in the US.
rehrigpacific.comRehrig Pacific's 40 x 48 rackable pallet is high-pressure injection molded co-polymer polypropylene, with 540 per 53 ft trailer.

Terms on this page

Regrind: Plastic ground from used or scrap parts into flakes for moulding again.
Injection moulding: Pallet made by forcing molten resin into a mould at high pressure.
Virgin resin: New, unblended resin that has not been through a product before.
Bale: A compressed block of scrap, tied for shipping. Buyers grade bales by resin, colour and cleanliness.
Shredder: A slow, heavy machine that tears whole pallets into large pieces before they reach the granulator.
Granulator: A machine with rotating knives that cuts plastic down to a set size, then pushes it through a screen.
Extrusion: Pushing melted plastic through a die to make a continuous shape, often pellets or sheet.
Rackable: Rated to sit on rack beams, with a stated racking load.
Recycled-content pallet: A pallet moulded partly or wholly from post-industrial or post-consumer resin.
PP: Polypropylene. More rigid than HDPE and better with heat and harsh chemicals; used where rack stiffness matters.
HDPE: High-density polyethylene, resin code 2. The most common resin in plastic pallets; tough and moisture resistant.
Reuse cycle: One trip out with a load and back again. Some pallets are rated for a number of them.
Multi-trip pallet: A pallet designed to be returned and reused many times.

Questions people ask

What plastic are recycled pallets made from?

Mostly HDPE, PP and other polyolefins.

Are they as strong as virgin pallets?

Check the model’s rating. Do not assume.

Can they be recycled again?

Yes. Eco CP3 is described as recyclable again.

Can a pallet be made from 100 percent recycled plastic?

Some makers say so. The 100 percent page looks at what that needs behind it.

Are recycled pallets recyclable again?

Many are, since they are HDPE or PP.

Sources, reviewed Nov 12, 2026: Racklify encyclopedia, recycled plastic pallets; Material District, Eco CP3 pallet; Rehrig Pacific, 40 x 48 rackable pallet.