Questions to ask a pallet recycler before you sign up
Ask what share of your pallets are resold, repaired, remanufactured and ground; where ground wood goes; how pooled and painted pallets are handled; and what records you get. Those answers decide whether you can report reuse or only 'recycling', and whether your diversion claim holds up.
The questions
- Of what you collect from sites like ours, what share is resold as-is, repaired, remanufactured or ground?
- Where does ground wood go: mulch, bedding, fuel, panel feedstock?
- How do you handle pooled pallets you collect by mistake?
- Do you keep painted and treated wood out of mulch and bedding?
- Do receipts show counts by grade, and can you give a quarterly summary by destination?
- Which state rules apply to you, for example records when buying marked plastic pallets?
Using the answers
Put the recycler's split into the Pallet Fate Report's 'proposed' mix as reuse and grinding shares. Reuse earns WARM's −1.66 MTCO2E per short ton; grinding earns nothing because WARM has no composting factor for dimensional lumber (WARM v16, Exhibit 12-3).
Red flags
- Offers to buy your blue or red pallets.
- No written record of where pallets go.
- Claims of 'trees saved' or emissions figures without a method.
Sources
- Documentation for Greenhouse Gas Emission and Energy Factors Used in WARM, Version 16: Construction Materials Chapters, ch. 12 Wood Products (EPA-530-R-23-020) U.S. EPA. Accessed October 27, 2026. Exhibits 12-3 (p. 12-3), 12-9, 12-13, 12-15 and 12-16 (p. 12-10).