Pallet disposal for stores, lots and back rooms
Pallet disposal for a store, back room or lot is a small request: a few dozen to a few hundred pallets that need to leave the floor.
- Size
- Mixed
- Build
- Stringer
- Grade
- Mixed load
- Trades
- Retail, restaurants
- Towns
- City of Grand Rapids
For the small dock
Not every request is a plant. A grocery back room, a hardware store, a restaurant loading door and a property manager with a vacant bay all collect pallets that arrive with freight and stay. They are rarely worth much alone and they take floor space.
A short list of what to say
| Say | Because |
|---|---|
| How many | A few dozen and a few hundred are different requests |
| Where they are | Inside a back room, in an alley or a lot |
| Anything pooled | Colour-painted rented pallets are returned to their owner, not discarded |
| Broken or sound | Sound ones may be worth selling |
| Why now | A lease end, a clean-out, a store reset |
A mix of sizes is normal in a store. A mix of broken and sound is normal too. Say both.
Disposal is sometimes the wrong word
Some pallets are worth keeping in use. A dozen sound 48x40s are Grade A or B stock; another dock may want them. Say what you have and let the request decide whether it is a sale or a clear. If you have a steady weekly stack from a store, the sell page fits.
What not to leave in a pile
- Pallets soaked with chemicals or oil, which should be flagged in the request
- Pooled pallets that belong to someone else
- Pallets stacked against a wall or fence where they may collapse
The city of Grand Rapids sits on the Grand River about 25 miles east of Lake Michigan, and it is the economic centre of West Michigan. One request page serves a store and a plant alike. See the Grand Rapids page for what the city's docks ship on.
What a small lot looks like
A store or restaurant with thirty pallets out back has a pile that is too small for a truckload and too big for the bin. The right route depends on whether the wood is sound. If it is, a neighbouring business may use it. If it is not, a recycler may take it as part of a larger route.
Disposal that is really a sale
A small lot of sound 48x40s sometimes has a buyer next door. It is worth asking before paying for removal.
What to ask a hauler
- Where do the pallets go after pickup?
- Is any of it recycled, or is it all landfill?
- What is the charge, and does it depend on the count?
- Do you need access to a dock, or can you load from the ground?
Answers that mention a recycler are good signs.
A short example
A pizza restaurant has accumulated 24 pallets behind its building. Half are 48x40 in decent shape, the rest are cracked. It writes a request giving the count, the condition and the access. A neighbour with a shipping dock may take the sound ones, and the rest can go to a recycler on a later route.
Disposal is the last resort
Disposal in the sense of landfill is the least useful end for a pallet. Most wood pallets can be repaired, reused or ground into mulch and fuel, and many recyclers will take a pile for little or nothing.
A request should say how many pallets there are, what condition they are in and how loads can reach the dock. A clear description makes it likelier that a recycler can use the pile.