Bulletin 194 · styles
Rackable plastic pallets are recycled like any HDPE or PP pallet: sorted, ground into regrind and moulded again. Built to sit on rack beams. Rack rating is the lowest of the three ratings.
Five questions and a photo. We say what we think happens next once the pallets have been seen.
Built to sit on rack beams. Rack rating is the lowest of the three ratings.
Rackables are often polypropylene, stiff and built to sit on beams. Rehrig’s example is high-pressure injection moulded. Keep them apart from HDPE, and say which resin you believe they are.
A rackable with its rack rating intact is worth keeping as a pallet. Cracked rackables lose the rating, so they are feedstock. Rack rating is the lowest of the three ratings.
Rackables are the style pool operators like, so look for names and RFID.
A rackable pallet is supported at its edges on rack beams. The rating is for that condition, and it is the lowest of the three ratings a pallet carries.
A rack rating depends on stiffness along the span. A crack across the deck or a bent runner can make a pallet unsafe on a beam. Once that happens, the pallet is feedstock.
Some rackables are PP, some are HDPE with steel reinforcement in the deck. Steel must come out before shredding. Say if you know the pallet has it.
Is the rack rating on the plate? Is there steel in the deck? Has any pallet been on a beam while cracked? What resin is it? These are the four questions that decide whether it is a pallet or feedstock.
Rackables leave when a warehouse changes racking or goes to a different automation line. The pallets are often sound, so test a few for flex before calling the whole lot scrap. A few good ones may sell while the rest are ground.
Take a photograph of the underside, where the runners and any steel show, and one of the deck edge where it sits on a beam. Add the plate if there is one. A recycler reading those three pictures can tell whether the pallet is PP, HDPE or a reinforced model, which decides whether it goes to a plain grind or a separation step first. It also tells a buyer whether the pallet still has a rating worth paying for.
| Spec | Example |
|---|---|
| Example weight (48x40) | 44.2 lb |
| Example static / dynamic / edge rack | 10,000 lb / 4,000 lb / 2,000 lb |
| Material | Co-polymer polypropylene, high-pressure injection molded |
| Per 53 ft trailer | 540 |
Yes. Rackables are often polypropylene, stiff and built to sit on beams.
A rackable with its rack rating intact is worth keeping as a pallet.
Rackables are the style pool operators like, so look for names and RFID.
That is a safety call for your own site. A damaged pallet should not go on a rack.
The process is the same. The sort is stricter because of PP and steel.
Sources, reviewed Nov 12, 2026: rehrigpacific.com.