Recycling Pallets!

Couldn't find any info doing a search so lets fill this thread up with info. I'm looking to get into pallet recycling/resale. The line of work I'm in generates a ton of pallets we have a few people who occasionally pick them up. We however require they take all the pallets, broken, wrong size, etc so they only come by when it's slow, they are starting to stack up... I recycled them a few times as a kid and got $10 each:confused: From what I hear now there is pallet yards that will buy the right ones if the economy is good if not then it's harder to find willing buyers. You can sell them direct to companies needing them yourself for $4 each. This is your most common size 48x40 pallet. The others aren't in high demand unless you find someone who needs them specialized. Once I find an outlet to resell I will report what happens.

Plastic pallets are like a rare coin I keep them for projects I'm not sure what they are worth! I figure though in an avg pickup truck bed you can lay pallets 1 row 2 deep with 3 on each stack to even out the pallets with the bed rails then then you stack them 2 rows of 2 with a total of 5-6 in each stack and you can bring in a load of 30 pallets at $4 each $120 bucks.

i worked one summer with a pallet rebuilder. They had the whole setup in a trailer about the size of an 8x35 but it was HEAVYY, their new gas powered trucks wouldn't pull them well, so they had to trade them for diesel. They'd pull these things all over the country. You ever seen a large plant with acres and acres of pallets stacked beside it? That's where we'd go and set up (at the time a new pallet cost $7 but for us to rebuild them was about half of that). The trailer sides folded out to make a larger floor area where stacks of pallets would be placed, and there were 3 workstations, plus special tools ( one would cut out rails that needed to be replaced ) Us workers were by the piece and made pretty fair money for it, plus they payed our rooms and a daily sustenance.

I knew a guy years ago that started out in pallets (lost his job in a trailer factory) with a pickup truck. He did his homework and over time made a lot of contacts. He would charge companies to haul away their excess pallets, take them to an old rented barn ($100. month) and repair what was needed and would sell them to other companies as needed. I think he got $ 5. each for them. It didn't matter to him if you needed 2 or 200. A year later he had a big flatbed truck with a 15-18 ft. bed and he always carried a wad of cash big enough to choke a horse. But he had a large clientele where the pallets were coming and going every day, his boy worked for him doing the repairs. If a factory called he would have a load of pallets there within the hour. He would even haul for second shift up to 10 pm at night. Needless to say, while he had the business going, it was booming.

warsaw? is that near brazil? i did some great dane trailer preps there in the mid 80s

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Originally Posted by Bear

warsaw? is that near brazil? i did some great dane trailer preps there in the mid 80s

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No, Warsaw is about 40mi. straight west of Ft.Wayne.
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...ighted.svg.png

ahhh! cool, brazil was west of indianapolis, i enjoyed those trips up there.

I save the pallets I get and use them to roast oysters in the fall...Mmmm...Oysters.

Ask your scrap yard how much they would pay for good 48x48 pallets. That should give you an idea of there worth.

I sell pallets. I get around $3 each and make about $700 a month doing so.

Prices here are not good. $1.75 for reparable ones and $2.00 for good ones... http://tucsonpallets.com/WE_BUY_PALLETS.php I am sure if you had a lot that they would have better prices, like anything else!

I see them made in huts & firewood sheds sometimes, add some iron gotton from a roller garage door & its a water proof shed.

they make really nice pig pens too! ; )

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Originally Posted by Bear

they make really nice pig pens too! ; )

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And you can even stack stuff on em !.

When i get a bunch im using them to hold my piles of scrap and compost.

this just keeps gettin better! I'm fixing to put some in low areas beside the old barn to walk across when it gets wet and water stands there

I am currently trying to find someone who buys pallets locally. I can probably do 10 to 20 pallets a week.

Check CL Scrappingmom, I saw an ad the company had 1000's to get rid of. Not sure if the ad is still up or has been reposted lately.

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Originally Posted by ScrapperNJ26

Check CL Scrappingmom, I saw an ad the company had 1000's to get rid of. Not sure if the ad is still up or has been reposted lately.

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I can get pallets where I work and also at the local mall. The mall frequently puts an ad on CL for people to take them. Before I take them, I need to find a buyer. Going to call a couple of places and see what I can find out.

The closest buyer is offering $1.00 per pallet. I can haul maybe 15 pallets at 1 time. Is it worth it or do you think I would be wasting my time?

Well 15 at a time would bring you $15 Depends on distance and how many splinters you want to pull out of your hands.

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Originally Posted by scrappingmom

The closest buyer is offering $1.00 per pallet. I can haul maybe 15 pallets at 1 time. Is it worth it or do you think I would be wasting my time?

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You might be able to negotiate a little better price if you can supply on a regular basis, so many a day/week.

I found a buyer of A grade-new pallets and B grade-undamaged non rebuilt pallets, they are willing to buy up to 200 per month and pay me $3 each delivered. My problem is very few of the pallets I get fit this criteria.

I built a bandsaw pallet dismantler out of our old 1974 ford pickup truck. Took the box off. jacked it up on cinder blocks. Used the right rear tire to drive the dismantler. Just start up the truck and put it in gear. Man that truck really made me money even after the DOT yanked the plates off the ole girl.
What a scarey machine.
We later modified it with a 220 volt motor because I was the only one crazy enough to run the **** thing.
Pallets are a good business but only if you sell to the end user not a pallet broker.
Scott and Betty

I thought of making pallets from junk lumber i see drivin around scrappin. It would be easy, cut a few boards and hammer a few nails and boom! a $3 pallet.

I have a buyer here that will pay 1$ for pallets in almost any condition as long as they are usable. I have collected about 20 this week and am going to try to see if it is worth while to make a few extra bucks. So far it does not seem worthwhile at 1$ each unless you can pick up alot of pallets at one location to cut down on the cost of gas. I can only fit 35 pallets in my trailer. I am going to talk to them and see if they could give me at least 1.50$ if I supply them regularly. Most store I picked up at were happy to give them to me except the mall when security told me I cant take them and I had to leave lol

I have a semi-local buyer ( in charlotte nc) that pays $2.25/each. However, they will only buy the 40"x48" 4-way pallets. A 4-way pallet are the pallets that have the cut out sides so that a forklift can use the pallet on all four sides.

Check craigslist in your area under the "free" tab. Between my truck and trailer I can haul 30 pallets per trip. Also, alot of the companies want you to take the good pallets AND the bad ones, if you will do as they ask, you can get them to agree to a monthly or weekly pick up, by doing so, you get a guaranteed stream of income.

With bad pallets, I make Chicken Coops, Rabbit Hutches, Compost Bins and quite sturdy small buildings on our paintball field. Not to mention the awesome bon fires. Peace Out!

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Originally Posted by Mechanic688

I knew a guy years ago that started out in pallets (lost his job in a trailer factory) with a pickup truck. He did his homework and over time made a lot of contacts. He would charge companies to haul away their excess pallets, take them to an old rented barn ($100. month) and repair what was needed and would sell them to other companies as needed. I think he got $ 5. each for them. It didn't matter to him if you needed 2 or 200. A year later he had a big flatbed truck with a 15-18 ft. bed and he always carried a wad of cash big enough to choke a horse. But he had a large clientele where the pallets were coming and going every day, his boy worked for him doing the repairs. If a factory called he would have a load of pallets there within the hour. He would even haul for second shift up to 10 pm at night. Needless to say, while he had the business going, it was booming.

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My dad did this but the guy that worked for him is now my step dad. Sucks but funny in a way.

What kind of trailers are you guys hauling only fitting 30 pallets on?????.....I can get around 100 on my 18ft trailer

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Originally Posted by mikeinreco

What kind of trailers are you guys hauling only fitting 30 pallets on?????.....I can get around 100 on my 18ft trailer

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Maybe one of these,,,

http://www.harborfreight.com/media/c...image_2226.jpg

I find them and resell them to a rebuilder that reselles them to companys.....only the 40 x 48 pallets.....he pays me $1 for 2-way pallets....$2 for damaged 4-way pallet.....$3 for a good 4-way....dont get a steady supply of them, because i havent found someone to save and give them to me, but ive picked up around 12 pallets in the past week just taking the extra time to drive behind a store and get out and load them up instead of just shopping and driving right out of the parking lot...they were all $3 pallets 12x3= $36 that went into my gas tank :cool:

I keep passing them on scrap runs, but no longer; between what I can find at work and curb shopping, I'm looking at another steady income source. I have found a buyer but have yet to get exact prices on everything.

Pallets are 4 or 6" tall. If I stack em 12 to 15 high I can get 24 to 30 per tier x 4 tiers. stacked side by side on my trailer. I'm pretty sure the blue chep pallets pay more than 1$ or2$...

how far from home/work is your buyer? do you have room at home to store them? will he pick them up if you pile up enough of them?

driving home from work with a load of pellets shouldn't cost much extra in gas, but the cost of delivering them is how you decide if its worth it

The pallet guys around here drive their little Toyota Tacoma stacked 20 high with pallets, two rows deep. All being held together with two tie downs. Frickin terrifying to drive behind.

plastics pallets are worth about $0.15lb. but you need a whole truck load to get paid.

Got a guy sort of nearby me that pays $1 a pallet. I can get a truckload once a week from people i go to around town, but in the end the $30 or so isnt worth the trouble of hauling all those suckers around. I'd be more interested if I got $2-$4, but then it also fills up my truck and takes away space from more profitable equipment.

I wonder, if you have a 24' box truck, how many you could haul. Lets say you can get two pallets width wise, and say six columns deep (24/6=4'), each column has twelve high. I have 12 columns x 12 pallets each = 144 pallets. If I'm lucky, need room for a pallet jack I'm sure. I rented one of these trucks last week and did a big scrap run that would have had all the pallets needed. The cost of the truck was 160 after all expenses related were added up. My break even point for expenses vs revenue would be $1.11 (160/144= $1.11). Respectively, if I got $2, $3, $4, each i would make an adjusted gross revenue of $128.00, $272.00, and $416.00. At two dollars a pallet I would do the work myself, at three dollars a pallet I can hire help, at four dollars each I could employ a great worker/driver. I think I will add pallets to my list of acceptable materials.

Just called these guys. Only ones in Denver I could find.

IFCO has pallet plant locations all over the U.S. to meet all of your pallet needs.

They quoted me a flat rate for truckloads of pallets like my scenario above. They quoted $1.50 ea.
Also, for a great condition pallet, 48"x40" 2.50 each.

Why not just buy a trailer? I can get over 200 on mine

Trailer sounds good, but then I need a truck to pull the trailer. Also, I am pretty sure I can do more in the box truck if I assumed I could get higher stacks. For arguments sake, lets assume you are in the infancy stage of your scrap metal business and you don't own a truck at all. I rent these truck pretty reasonably and In time the purchase of a truck and or trailer would make a great impact on profitability.