Sustainability

In the United States, more hardwood lumber goes into pallet production than any other single product — including furniture, flooring, and construction combined. An estimated 40% of all hardwood lumber harvested in the US becomes pallets. Recycling pallets directly reduces pressure on forests and preserves biodiversity in hardwood ecosystems.

Unlike plastic or composite alternatives, wood pallets are completely biodegradable and recyclable. At end of life, they can become landscape mulch, animal bedding, compost material, biomass energy fuel, or pressed wood products. Every component of a wood pallet has value — there is truly zero waste when processed properly.

Manufacturing a new wood pallet requires significant water for lumber processing, including sawmill operations, kiln drying, and dust suppression. Reconditioning a used pallet eliminates this water usage entirely. Across our annual volume, this translates to millions of gallons of water conserved every year.

The pallet recycling industry supports over 45,000 direct jobs in communities across the United States, plus an estimated 100,000+ indirect jobs in transportation, equipment manufacturing, and support services. By choosing recycled pallets, you directly support local employment and strengthen local economies like ours in Wichita.

Unlike older methyl bromide fumigation methods (now banned in many countries), ISPM-15 heat treatment uses no chemicals whatsoever. It is a clean, natural process that kills pests through sustained temperature exposure alone — safe for the environment, safe for workers, and safe for your products, including food and pharmaceuticals.

Peer-reviewed lifecycle assessment studies show that reusing a pallet generates approximately 80% less carbon emissions than manufacturing a new one. The savings come from eliminated logging, milling, kiln drying, and long-distance lumber transportation. A single reuse cycle saves roughly 6.8 lbs of CO2 per pallet.

When wood decomposes anaerobically in landfills (without oxygen), it produces methane — a greenhouse gas approximately 28 times more potent than carbon dioxide over a 100-year period. By diverting pallets from landfills through our recycling programs, we prevent significant methane emissions from entering the atmosphere.

An estimated 2 billion pallets are currently in use across the United States at any given time. This represents an enormous pool of reusable material. If each of these pallets gets just one additional reuse cycle before disposal, it would save approximately 48 million trees worth of lumber and prevent 13.6 billion lbs of CO2.

Living trees absorb CO2 through photosynthesis and store it as carbon in their wood. When that wood becomes a pallet, the carbon remains locked in the material for the entire lifespan of the pallet. A typical 48x40 pallet stores approximately 27 lbs of carbon. Keeping pallets in circulation extends this carbon storage benefit.

The energy required to inspect, repair, and recondition a used pallet is approximately 85% less than the energy needed to manufacture a new one from raw lumber. This includes all energy inputs: logging, transportation, sawmill processing, kiln drying, assembly, and finishing. The energy savings per pallet is equivalent to running a 60W light bulb for 48 hours.

End-of-life pallets that cannot be repaired are ground into landscape mulch. When applied to gardens, farms, and commercial landscaping, this mulch reduces soil erosion by up to 95%, retains soil moisture by 50%, and suppresses weed growth by up to 90%. It is a valuable byproduct that closes the loop on wood waste.

Pallet wood that is too damaged for mulch or animal bedding becomes biomass fuel for industrial boilers and power plants. This wood-based energy displaces fossil fuel consumption and is considered carbon-neutral because the CO2 released during combustion equals the CO2 absorbed during tree growth.

Every pallet reuse cycle means one fewer new pallet needs to be manufactured from virgin timber. The pallet industry is the single largest consumer of saw timber in North America. By maximizing reuse cycles (an average pallet can be reused 5-10 times with proper repair), we dramatically reduce the demand for new tree harvesting.

New pallets often travel hundreds or thousands of miles from lumber mills to pallet manufacturers to end users. Locally recycled pallets travel a fraction of that distance — typically under 50 miles from collection to customer in our Wichita operation. This eliminates 90%+ of transportation-related carbon emissions.

Pallets are one of the most successful examples of circular economy principles in practice. The pallet recycling industry has been operating a collect-repair-reuse-recycle loop for decades, long before "circular economy" became a buzzword. Today, approximately 508 million pallets are repaired and returned to service annually in the US.

Ground pallet wood makes excellent animal bedding for livestock operations. It is absorbent, affordable, and locally sourced. Approximately 25% of our end-of-life pallet material becomes animal bedding, supporting Kansas farming operations while giving wood waste another productive life before final decomposition.