How Does Canada Recycle its Wooden Pallets – The Eco-Friendliness of the Pallet Industry

Canada’s wood pallet industry is one of the most eco-friendliest industrial categories of waste there is. Did you know that more than 95 percent of wooden pallets in Canada get reused or recycled – it’s true!

When a wooden pallet enters the recycling chain, roughly 30 percent of them are broken or require some sort of fixing, refurbishment, or otherwise. These are quick fixes thankfully.

The few wooden pallets that aren’t able to be fixed and/or reused can be made into wood chips then applied to be used in particle boards, paper, or livestock bedding.

The next time you buy a recycled paper product in Canada, you could be receiving a product created from wooden pallets. Here’s a little more about how wooden pallets are used in Canada and where they go when they’re recycled.

The challenges a lot of Canadian businesses face

Every industrial business or warehouse faces the same issue regarding wooden pallets. They’re needed to move product but they stack up quick. Before long, you have wooden pallets piling up across backrooms, by garbage bins or out by the dumpster, and taking up space in your storage area. These pallets can create a safety hazard at worst. At best, they’re remain frustratingly in the way.

The affordability of wood pallet recycling

Unlike recycling other products which don’t always have a market, wood pallet recycling is thriving. Small businesses recycling wood pallets every day by upcycling, Canadian artists are buying wood pallets to create art from, and there’s all sorts of commercial pallet recycling categories of business and industry that are willing to recover, sort, repair, and re-sell pallets as a single piece or to grind it into recovered material.

How many pallets are recycled in Canada?

According to estimates in 2011, in Canada, every year there are roughly 47.4 million pallets recovered. Of these 32.6 million are able to be returned into service as pallets. Of the 14.8 remaining pallets, those get recycled into other products.

A necessary landfill diversion strategy

Wood is such an eco-friendly recycling material in Canada. Few pallets, if any, need to end up going to our landfills. We are living in an era of landfill diversion and in that, wooden pallet are made big gains. In 1998, it was estimated 17.9 million pallets per year ended up in Canadian landfills. These days, that number has dropped down to 2.5 million and continues to lower with each passing year. Wood pallets have so much recoverable materials that can be reused or repurposed that it is well worth it.

Do you want to recycle pallets in Toronto?

What to do if you want to recycle pallets in Toronto and the GTA is to find a party willing to pick them up. There’s no reason a pallet should end up in a mini bin or a dumpster, destined for a landfill. Eco-friendly junk removal, dumpster rental, and waste disposal companies are here prepared and ready to accept wooden pallets and other materials, ensuring they get a fair look prior to any sort of disposal. If possible, they can be sent back into the service chain. If not, recycling them into mulch, animal bedding, or biofuel works.

Sorting pallets into different categories

When a facility receives a pallet, the next step is to sort them into the appropriate categories ensuring fast and efficient processing. Depending on the recycling company, this may be a process of sorting according to size, wood grade, whether it’s repairing or not, pallets to be dismantled, or unwanted pallets to be grounded into wood fiber. From there a number of equipment is used to sort and dismantle the pallets, including forklifts, automated sorters, wood grinding systems, and pneumatic nailing tools.

Can I dispose of wood pallets yourself – yes, you can!

There are many ways to get rid of wood pallets in Toronto that go beyond offloading them onto a waste disposal or recycling company. You can cultivate a relationship with another local company who can use the wood as a supply for a particular product. You can load them up in a safe place next to your facility and post a classifieds ad for ‘free wood'. If you have a wood chipper handy, you can also break them down yourself and sell them as mulch or repurpose the wood chips yourself.

Is wood the best pallet material?

As eco-friendly as wood is, every year there are more than 100 million pallets put into circulation according to some estimates in Canada. They are not all wood. Many are eco-friendly plastic. Although wood has been around in pallet form for over fifty years, it’s not unreasonable to assume that fifty years from now, wood pallets could be no more. This would be in favor of less wasteful materials. For the time being however, recycling wood has proven to be priority for industrial facilities, commercial businesses, warehouses, shipping companies, procurement, material handling, transportation, and logistics.

Highly creative ways anyone can use a pallet with

There are many unique ways Canadians all over the country have put recycled wood pallets to use. Though these aren’t commercial ideas, they show how unique pallets are in terms of the incredible material they are.

 Manufacturing a standing garden.
 Adding wheels and additional materials to turn a wood pallet into a coffee table.
 Taking it apart to craft a toy bin, a bookshelf, or other means.
 Employing it as a shoe organizer.
 Creating a backyard swing from it.
 Disassembling it into a garden pallet pathway.
 Repurposing them as crafty rustic lanterns for some summertime night.
 Building flower boxes for the garden or front porch.
 Developing pallets into extravagant art pieces or to using a single one to paint an immaculate image.
 To build out a heavy duty bench, with a DIY-style design.

Every pallet has value

If nothing else is taken away from this article, please remember that wood pallets have value. They may resemble something discarded or unimportant but they hold tremendous value and it’s a must they end up recycled like any other material.

Do you know where to dispose of wood pallets in the GTA – if not, give us a call. Core Mini Bins is a waste disposal company specializing in eco-friendly, sustainable processing of materials. Wood is far from the most valuable recyclable material out there but it's no reason to send it to the landfill.