Bulletin 003 · recycling
A plastic pallet recycling company sorts your pallets, finds a processor that grinds them, and sends the regrind to a moulder. Ask what it does with the load, who owns the pallets, and what it needs to see before it says yes.
The good ones answer in terms of resin, colour and condition. The weak ones answer in slogans.
Five questions and a photo. We say what we think happens next once the pallets have been seen.
The first question is where the load ends up. A real answer names a step: sorted by resin, ground into regrind, moulded again. A vague answer says the pallets are “diverted” and stops.
Greystone Logistics is a useful comparison. It makes recycled-plastic pallets and takes part of its feedstock from damaged pallets through a buy-back programme. It is a manufacturer with its own supply, not a service for any company’s pile, which is the gap a recycler fills.
Resin first, then colour, then condition. A company that cannot say how it separates HDPE from PP has not thought about the regrind. The Association of Plastic Recyclers publishes Model Bale Specifications for bale quality, and a recycler who knows them will talk about bale grade.
Any company that handles plastic pallets will meet pool-marked ones. A careful one checks for CHEP, iGPS and other marks before it takes a load, and will say what it does when an owner turns up. CHEP USA has sued California recyclers over marked pallets they would not return, so the question is not theoretical.
A serious recycler asks for photos. A load description with count, size, resin, condition and ZIP is the minimum. If a company will quote a price with none of that, it is guessing.
We ask for the same things, and we do not promise acceptance until the pallets have been looked at.
A processor shreds and grinds. A moulder melts regrind into new parts. A router, like us, describes loads and finds which of the two suits them. A company that claims to do all three deserves a question about who holds the pallets in between.
A price before anyone has seen the pallets. No questions about marks. A promise to take any amount, any condition. Pallets are not a uniform commodity, and a good answer starts with questions about resin, colour and owner.
| Question | A good answer | A weak answer |
|---|---|---|
| Where does it go? | Sorted, ground to regrind, moulded again | Diverted from landfill |
| How is it sorted? | By resin, then colour, then condition | Sorted on site |
| Who owns the pallets? | Checked for marks and RFID first | Not our concern |
| What do you need? | Count, size, photos, ZIP | Nothing, send it |
Not quite. A pallet company sells pallets. A recycler takes the ones that have finished their trips and finds the next use for the material.
That depends on the load and is not something we can state without seeing it. Do not trust anyone who names a number before the pallets are described.
Yes, and say so. A mixed load is sorted into bins first. It just needs to be described honestly.
Ask each the same four questions: what happens after the truck leaves, how loads are sorted, what is done about marked pallets and what they need to see. Compare the answers.
No. We name kinds of company, not particular ones.
Sources, reviewed Nov 12, 2026: Resource Recycling, Greystone Logistics; Association of Plastic Recyclers; Pallet Enterprise, CHEP and California recyclers.