End-of-life pathways for pallets
A pallet that leaves your dock can be returned, reused, repaired, rebuilt, ground, burned or buried. Each page explains who does it, what limits it, and the EPA factor that applies, or why none does.
- Pallet reuse: what it is and what it is worth in emissionsHow used wood pallets go back into service as-is, which ones qualify, and why EPA WARM gives reuse its largest end-of-life credit (−1.66 MTCO2E per short ton).
- Pallet repair: keeping a damaged pallet in serviceWhat pallet repair involves, how it differs from remanufacturing, what boards and fasteners it uses, and how to account for it in a reuse or emissions report.
- Remanufactured pallets: rebuilt from salvaged boardsHow pallets that can't be repaired are dismantled and rebuilt into new pallets, sometimes in new sizes, and how remanufacture fits WARM and scope 3 accounting.
- Pallet wood mulch: where most 'recycled' pallets goWhy chipping into mulch is the main way EPA counts pallets as recycled, what makes pallet mulch safe or unsafe, and why WARM gives it no emissions credit.
- Pallet wood as animal beddingWhen ground pallet wood is used for livestock and poultry bedding, why only clean untreated wood qualifies, and how bedding is counted in EPA's pallet recycling figure.
- Pallets as biomass fuelHow ground pallet wood is burned for energy, why EPA does not count it as recycling, and how WARM's combustion factor (−0.58 MTCO2E per short ton) is built.
- Pallet wood in pellets and panelsWhen clean pallet wood becomes feedstock for wood pellets, particleboard or engineered panels, what limits it, and how to report it without overstating the benefit.
- Pallets in landfills: rules, numbers and what WARM assumesHow many wood pallets reach landfills, which states ban them, and why WARM's landfill factor for wood (−0.92 MTCO2E per short ton) is negative.
- Burning pallets with energy recoveryWhat happens when pallets go to a waste-to-energy plant, how EPA records it, and the WARM and GHG Hub factors for combusting dimensional lumber.
- Returning pooled pallets to their ownerWhy blue, red and plastic pooled pallets are not yours to recycle, how the owners collect them, and how to count returned pooled pallets in a waste report.