Questions, answered plainly

Grade A recycled pallets handle 1,800–2,500 lb racked and edge-supported, which covers most palletised loads. Grade B is acceptable up to roughly 1,800 lb. Grade C should never be racked. Tell us the load weight and rack style at quote stage and we will specify the grade rather than let you guess.

A 48x40 hardwood GMA pallet typically goes through five to seven service cycles before the stringers can no longer hold a fastener. With repair — replacing boards, adding companion stringers, plugging notches — well-managed pallets routinely reach ten or more trips before dismantling.

Pallets stored outdoors can pick up surface mould, which is cosmetic rather than structural. Our A-clean sort screens it out, and heat treatment to 56°C core for 30 minutes eliminates both pests and active mould growth. If your product is moisture-sensitive, specify kiln-dried or heat-treated stock.

Yes. Recycled pallets can be heat treated and stamped to ISPM-15 provided every component is wood that has been treated — so any repair made with untreated boards invalidates an old stamp. We re-treat and re-stamp after repair, which is the only compliant way to do it.

Roughly 2.2 to 3 times. A recycled Grade A 48x40 typically lands at $11–$16 delivered; the new SYP equivalent lands at $22–$34. The gap widens when lumber futures spike and narrows when core supply tightens.

Yes, and it is simpler than treating recycled stock because every component is known. Heat treatment to 56°C core for 30 minutes adds one day and $1.10–$1.90 per pallet, and the pallet ships with the IPPC mark burned into two opposing stringers.

500 units. Below that, the saw setup, jig change and lumber ordering cost more than the pallets are worth, and you would be better served by a standard footprint with a slip sheet or a top cap.

Only in small buffer quantities of standard 48x40 SYP. We deliberately keep new inventory low — holding milled lumber ties up working capital that does more good funding recovery routes. If you need new stock inside 48 hours, tell us and we will say honestly whether we can do it.

Southern yellow pine for most builds, hardwood where the load concentrates or the pallet has to survive repeated racking. Species changes weight, fastener holding and cost more than it changes the headline capacity figure, so we specify it against how the pallet will actually be handled.

No. ISPM-15 governs wood packaging crossing an international border. Domestic freight needs no treatment or mark. Shipments to Puerto Rico, Guam and the U.S. Virgin Islands are domestic movements and are also exempt.

Canada and the United States operate a mutual exemption for wood packaging moving between them, provided the wood originated in either country. Mexico requires ISPM-15 compliance. Because the exemption is origin-dependent and reviewed periodically, most exporters simply treat everything going north or south — the cost is small next to a held container.

Indefinitely, as long as the pallet is not repaired with untreated wood and the mark stays legible. There is no expiry date in the standard. Treatment kills what is in the wood; it does not create a lasting barrier, but re-infestation of dried, milled lumber in normal use is not a practical concern.

Yes. Send them to the yard, or we will collect them on a scheduled route. We inspect first, because there is no point treating a pallet that will fail structurally on the next trip. Anything that needs repair gets repaired with treated stock before it goes into the chamber.

Outcomes range from re-export at your cost, to on-arrival fumigation, to destruction of the packaging and sometimes the goods. Every outcome costs more than treatment, and all of them cost time you have already sold to a customer.

Stock grades of 48x40 ship in 24–72 hours within our regular haul territory. Appearance-sorted stock takes 3–5 days, new builds 5–12 working days, and heat treatment adds one day to any of those.

Yes. We send photographs of the actual lot with any quote over 500 units, and you are welcome at the yard by appointment. For repeat programmes we will ship a sample pallet before the first trailer.

We run regular routes in 38 states and quote spot freight to the rest of the lower 48. Alaska and Hawaii are possible but rarely economic — we will tell you honestly if the freight makes it pointless.

Yes, on an agreed release schedule rather than an open-ended reservation. Committed volume is what lets us buy cores ahead of your demand, and that is where the price protection comes from. An informal expectation does not move our buying, so it cannot move your price.

Between $1.10 and $6.50 per unit for most stock, with 48x40 GMA at the top of the range and odd sizes at the bottom. Volume, condition mix and how far you are from a route all move the number. Send a count and a photo and we will quote a real figure, not a range.

Yes, and we pay for them. A broken pallet still contains recoverable deck boards and stringers, and whatever cannot be reused becomes fibre. Leaving damaged pallets out of the load to 'keep the quality up' just leaves you a pile to pay someone else to remove.

About 250 units to justify a truck. Below that, we can often add you to an existing route in your area — ask, because it costs nothing to check and route density is what makes small loads viable.

No. Those remain the property of the pooling company and buying them would be handling stolen goods. We sort them out of your load at no charge and can arrange collection by the relevant pooler.

Within our regular route territory, usually 2–5 working days. If a dock is genuinely blocked we will prioritise it, and we would rather hear that up front than find out when the driver arrives.

By weight, about 92% of what enters our yard is diverted from landfill across all five outcome tiers. For an individual sound pallet the figure is effectively 100% — it either goes back into service or becomes fibre. The residual comes from contaminated and metal-laden material.

It depends on the mix. Loads with a healthy proportion of recoverable 48x40 stock usually generate a payment to you. Loads that are mostly broken odd sizes may carry a modest haul charge. We quote the net position before the truck moves, so there are no surprises.

Yes. Damaged HDPE and PP pallets are bought by weight and sent for grinding and re-moulding. Plastic pallets are entirely recyclable and should never see a landfill, but they need a different route than wood.

Extracted magnetically during grinding and sold as scrap steel. It is a small revenue line and a large quality issue — metal in mulch is unacceptable to every downstream buyer, so the separation has to be thorough.

It is built for that. Reports state methodology, cite weigh-ticket evidence, and separate measured tonnage from estimated emissions factors. Auditors generally want to see the boundary between measurement and estimate drawn clearly, and ours is.