Your numbers
Show the factors used ▾
| New build emissions | 13 kg CO₂e |
| Recovery emissions | 1 kg CO₂e |
| Landfill factor | 0.62 kg CO₂e / kg wood |
| Pallet mass | 19.1 kg |
| Tree sequestration | 21 kg CO₂e / year |
| Price delta, new vs recycled | $26 − $13 |
Mid-range values. Real figures vary with species, lane distance, landfill gas capture and market pricing — which is exactly why they are shown here rather than baked into a badge.
The Reclaim Ledger
Ref RL-0002500-GMAL
Recovering 2,500 48x40 gma stringer pallets per year instead of buying them new and landfilling the old ones:
- CO₂e avoided
- 59.6 t59,605 kg
- Wood kept in circulation
- 52.6 tons47,750 kg
- Tree-years of sequestration
- 2,838at 21 kg per tree-year
- Saved vs buying new
- $32,500$13 per pallet
Where the carbon comes from
- Manufacturing not required30,000 kg
- Landfill methane avoided29,605 kg
That volume is roughly 4.7 trailer loads of empty pallets, at about 530 stacked units per 53-foot trailer.
Estimates, not guarantees. Ranges in the underlying literature are wide — particularly for landfill methane, which depends heavily on site gas capture. Use these figures to size a decision, and ask us for the measured tonnage from your own collections if you need something an auditor will accept.
Methodology
What each number means, and how confident we are
| Activity | kg CO₂e per pallet | Confidence | Main driver |
|---|---|---|---|
| Build new, softwood | 11–15 | Moderate | Harvest, mill, dry, assemble, distribute |
| Build new, hardwood | 13–18 | Moderate | Higher mass, more processing energy |
| Recover and reuse as-is | 0.4–0.8 | Good | Collection transport and handling |
| Recover and repair | 0.9–1.6 | Good | Above, plus replacement boards |
| Grind to fibre | 1.1–2.0 | Good | Processing energy |
| Landfill | 9–14 | Low | Anaerobic decomposition, methane |
| Manufacture virgin HDPE pallet | 45–90 | Moderate | Resin production dominates |
Worked examples
Four operations, run through the same arithmetic
| Operation | Pallets / year | CO₂e avoided | Wood in circulation | Saved vs new |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Single-site food distributor | 2,500 | 60.1 t | 52.6 tons | $32,500 |
| Regional 3PL, four sites | 18,000 | 432.4 t | 379.0 tons | $234,000 |
| Building products manufacturer | 7,200 | 173.0 t | 151.6 tons | $93,600 |
| Seasonal produce packer | 40,000 | 961.0 t | 842.2 tons | $520,000 |
Reading these honestly
The last column is the one a finance team will engage with, and it is the least contentious — it is a price difference, not a model. The first column is the one a sustainability team wants, and it carries real uncertainty, most of it in the landfill methane factor. Present them separately rather than as a single headline.
Using the output
How to put this in a report without overstating it
- 01
Establish the counterfactual first
What would genuinely have happened without the intervention? If the pallets would have gone to another recycler rather than to landfill, the avoided-methane component does not belong to your decision.
- 02
Use ranges, not point estimates
Report 'between X and Y', and say which end you consider likely. A single precise-looking number is a warning sign to any reviewer.
- 03
Separate measured from estimated
Tonnage is measured against weigh tickets. Emissions factors are estimated from published models. Auditors want that boundary drawn explicitly.
- 04
Cite the factors
Say where each one came from, whether that is a public model or a supplier. Unsourced factors are the first thing challenged.
- 05
Re-run annually
Grid intensity, transport efficiency and landfill gas capture all change. A figure calculated three years ago is not this year's figure.
Boundaries
What this calculator does not include
Your own transport
Emissions from moving pallets around your sites are yours, not ours, and they are not in this model.
Warehousing energy
Storing pallets has a footprint. It is small per unit and it is excluded.
The wood's stored carbon
Roughly 18–22 kg per pallet, already sequestered. Counting it as a saving would double-count the forest.
Packaging and wrap
Stretch film, strapping and corner boards have their own footprint and are outside the boundary.
End-of-life beyond our yard
Once a pallet leaves as a working pallet, what happens on its next four lives is not modelled here.
Water, land use and biodiversity
This is a carbon and tonnage model only. It says nothing about other impact categories.
Questions