Bulletin 195 · styles
Nestable, stackable and rackable pallets are recycled like any HDPE or PP pallet: sorted, ground into regrind and moulded again. One model combining all three; check ratings per model.
Five questions and a photo. We say what we think happens next once the pallets have been seen.
One model combining all three; check ratings per model.
One model that does three jobs. Nelson’s example is 48 x 40 x 4.8 in, 18.0 lb, high-density polypropylene, rated 10,500 lb static, 3,100 lb dynamic and 2,700 lb racking, with about 60 per stack and 1,800 per truck.
A lightweight multi-use pallet that is still sound is a good candidate for reuse. Once cracked it is a clean, single-resin PP feedstock.
Check for marks. The style is common in automation lines.
The model can nest when empty, stack when full and sit on racks. That makes it useful on automated lines and expensive to replace with a simpler pallet, so a sound one has a market.
Look for a static rating, a dynamic rating and a racking rating, each in pounds. Photograph the plate, since it tells the buyer or the recycler what the pallet is.
Where the model is PP, a pile of them is a clean single-resin stream. That makes it a good candidate for a grinder when cracked.
Which of the three ratings does the plate show? How many of each size? Are they from an automated line, where wear marks differ? Is the colour uniform? These facts set the price of a used lot and the grade of the regrind.
Automated plants like one pallet that fits every step: it nests for the empty return, stacks full in a store and rides a rack in the line. Buying one model for all three removes mix-ups, so a retiring plant often retires a whole line of the same model at once.
A pallet that earns three ratings is built heavier than a plain nestable, usually with a stiffer deck, reinforced rails and a closed or ribbed top. A plant that runs automated conveyors or shuttles chooses it so one pallet can serve every step. When the lot retires, the buyer is looking for the same model in the same size, which is why a clean, counted, photographed lot with the plate visible has a better chance of finding a second use before it reaches the grinder.
A line change retires every pallet of the old model on the same day, so the lot is large, uniform and counted by the plant already. Ask the plant for the count by model. That figure is better than any estimate made from a photograph.
Keep the datasheet for the model, because it lists all three ratings, and note the year the lot was bought, the line it served and the count retired.
| Spec | Example |
|---|---|
| Example (48x40x4.8 in) | 18.0 lb, high-density polypropylene |
| Static / dynamic / racking | 10,500 lb / 3,100 lb / 2,700 lb |
| Nesting | About 60 per stack, 1,800 per truck |
Yes. One model that does three jobs.
A lightweight multi-use pallet that is still sound is a good candidate for reuse.
Check for marks. The style is common in automation lines.
It carries three ratings, not one or two, and its deck is built for racks.
If sound, yes, to someone who needs the size and the ratings.
Sources, reviewed Nov 12, 2026: nelsoncompany.com.