Collection and delivery transport
By a wide margin. It is why backhaul pairing is an environmental measure as much as a commercial one — an empty return leg emits the same as a full one.
The hierarchy
Five outcomes, in priority order
We work down this list, not across it. Every pallet that becomes mulch is a pallet that could not be repaired, which we treat as a failure state rather than a business line.
- 01
Reuse as-is
41%Graded, stacked, shipped. 0.4–0.8 kg CO₂e — transport and handling only.
- 02
Repair and return
34%Ninety seconds of skilled work. 0.9–1.6 kg CO₂e including replacement boards.
- 03
Remanufacture
11%Dismantled and rebuilt from recovered components, often into a size nobody builds new.
- 04
Fibre recovery
6%De-metalled, ground, screened into mulch, bedding or panel feedstock. Carbon stays locked.
- 05
Energy recovery
<1%Biomass fuel. Last resort before landfill, because burning ends the carbon storage.
- 06
Landfill — the residual
8%Chemically contaminated wood, embedded metal beyond economic extraction, and non-wood material that arrived on the trailer. Reported rather than rounded away.
Run your own numbers
The Reclaim Ledger shows every emissions factor on screen, so you can see which assumption drives the result — and swap in your own if you disagree with ours.
Open the calculator
Emissions factors
The numbers, with confidence attached
Ranges rather than point estimates, because the underlying variables genuinely vary. The landfill factor has the widest uncertainty and one of the largest magnitudes — which is uncomfortable and worth stating.
| 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 |
- CO₂e avoided across our volume in 2025
- 26,000 tCO₂e avoided across our volume in 2025
- Weigh tickets and treatment records retained
- 7 yrWeigh tickets and treatment records retained
- Reports per year on a collection programme
- 4Reports per year on a collection programme
- Claims we can't show the working for
- 0Claims we can't show the working for
Reporting
Built to survive an auditor, not a brochure
Every collection programme includes quarterly reporting: tonnage in, the outcome split across the five tiers, tonnage landfilled, and estimated CO₂e avoided with the methodology stated so your auditor can check it rather than accept it.
- Weigh tickets for every collection, retained seven years
- Measured tonnage separated from estimated emissions
- Certificate of recycling where a customer or regulator needs one
- Data structured to drop into GRI, CDP or an internal ESG disclosure without re-keying
- The residual reported as its own line, not folded into a diversion figure
Questions
On sustainability claims
Is a wood pallet actually environmentally friendly?
A wood pallet is stored carbon that took energy to produce. Whether it is environmentally good depends entirely on how many times it is used and what happens at the end. Recovering and reusing one emits roughly a tenth of what building a new one does; landfilling one emits 9–14 kg CO₂e as methane. The material is neutral — the handling is what matters.
Why don't you claim 100% diversion?
Because it would not be true. Eight percent of what enters our yard by weight is contaminated wood, embedded metal beyond economic extraction, and non-wood material that arrived on the trailer. Any recycler claiming 100% is either counting energy recovery as recycling or not counting carefully.
Is your reporting good enough for an ESG disclosure?
It is built for that. Reports state methodology, cite weigh-ticket evidence and separate measured tonnage from estimated emissions factors. Auditors generally want the boundary between measurement and estimate drawn explicitly, and ours is.
Do you use FSC or PEFC certified timber?
For new builds we source through mills that participate in recognised chain-of-custody schemes, and we can supply documentation on request. For recycled stock the question does not really apply — the wood was harvested years ago by someone else, which is precisely the point.
What about plastic pallets — aren't they more sustainable?
Rarely, once landfill avoidance is included. Manufacturing a virgin HDPE pallet emits 45–90 kg CO₂e against 0.4–1.6 kg to recover a wood one. Plastic's footprint improves substantially with recycled resin and a high-trip closed loop, but it seldom overtakes recovered wood. We publish the arithmetic rather than picking a side.
Boundaries
What we do not claim
A list of the things it would be easy to say and that we will not, because they would not survive a reviewer who cared.
That we are carbon neutral
We are not. We run trucks, chambers and a grinder, and all three burn energy. What we avoid is larger than what we emit, which is a different and checkable claim.
That the wood's stored carbon is a saving
A pallet holds 18–22 kg of carbon drawn down while the tree grew. It was already sequestered. Counting it as a reduction double-counts the forest.
That diversion equals climate benefit
Diversion measures what we keep out of landfill. The larger effect is upstream — the replacement pallet that never gets built.
That plastic is always worse
Amortised over a high-trip closed loop and made from recycled resin, plastic narrows the gap considerably. It rarely closes it, and 'rarely' is not 'never'.
That our recycled stock is zero-carbon
It is 0.4–1.6 kg CO₂e per pallet, dominated by collection transport. Twelve miles and three hundred are not the same product.
Using our data
Putting these figures in your own report
What we supply, what you should do with it, and where the boundary between measurement and estimate sits.
| What we supply | Basis | How to present it |
|---|---|---|
| Tonnage collected | Weighbridge tickets | Measured. Cite directly. |
| Outcome split across five tiers | Yard records against tonnage | Measured. Cite directly. |
| Tonnage landfilled | Weighbridge tickets | Measured. Do not omit it. |
| CO₂e avoided vs new build | Published emissions factors | Estimated. State the range and the source. |
| CO₂e avoided vs landfill | Published factors, wide uncertainty | Estimated. State the counterfactual explicitly. |
| Certificate of recycling | Issued per programme | Supporting evidence, not a claim in itself. |
Reporting frameworks this feeds
The data is structured for GRI 306 waste disclosure and CDP submissions, and it drops into an ISO 14001 management review without re-keying. Emissions factors are referenced to public models including the EPA WARM model rather than to numbers we invented.
Our own footprint
Where our emissions actually come from
Recovery is low-carbon relative to manufacturing. It is not no-carbon, and being specific about where ours sits is the only honest way to publish an avoided-emissions figure.
Heat treatment chambers
Bringing wood to 56°C core takes real energy, and wet charges take far more. Drier intake is lower-carbon intake.
Grinding and screening
Two magnetic passes and two grinds. Necessary for product quality, and the reason we treat grinding as a failure state rather than a business line.
Buildings and yard
Covered storage, lighting and the office. Small per pallet, and it rises in wet markets where covered storage is not optional.