Guides · ready the lot

Guides for selling plastic pallets

Twelve guides take you from a pile on the dock to a lot a buyer can read: count it, photograph it, sort it, check the marks, send it.

Last reviewed November 12, 2026

Send a lot

A 45 x 45 plan view, to scale

In the order you will use them

Count and photograph
Start with how to count a lot and the photos buyers want.
Check the marks
Checking for markings shows where to look. It decides whether the lot is yours.
Sort the pile
Mixed lots, damaged pallets and a retired footprint cover the common messes.
Send it
Dock access and what happens after you send the form finish the job.

All twelve

Questions these guides answer

How do I sell a truckload of plastic pallets?
What photos do I send a plastic pallet buyer?
What do buyers look at when they price a lot?
Do buyers take mixed sizes and colours?
Will a buyer take broken plastic pallets with the good ones?
How do I get rid of a stack of plastic pallets?

Each question has a guide above. If you would rather skip them, sort your pile and send the lot; the desk asks for what is missing.

Words you will meet

Regrind: Plastic ground from used or scrap parts into flakes for moulding again.
Rackable: Rated to sit on rack beams, with a stated racking load.
Heat treated (HT): ISPM 15 treatment for wood: core at 56 C for 30 minutes. Not needed for plastic.
Thermoforming: Heated plastic sheet formed over a mould; lighter pallets.
Nestable: Empty pallets stack inside one another, cutting empty storage space by up to 75 percent.
Nest increment: How much height each extra nested pallet adds to a stack.
ISPM 15: The international standard for treating wood packaging against pests. Plastic pallets are outside it.
Pooling: Renting pallets from a company that owns, tracks and collects them instead of buying.
Captive pallet: A pallet owned and kept inside one company or loop.
FM 4996: FM Approvals standard that rates a pallet as equal to wood in fire tests.
UL 2335: UL fire-test standard for storage pallets, with an idle pallet test and a commodity storage test.
Commodity classification: Sprinkler design class of stored goods; an unlisted plastic pallet can raise it.
Profile extrusion: Pushing resin through a die to make long shapes that form pallet parts.
GMA pallet: The 48 x 40 in North American standard footprint.
Euro pallet: 800 x 1200 mm footprint.
Resin identification code: Number on a plastic part for the resin, which does not itself say whether it is recyclable.

Who asks, and what they need

Plants changing packaging or pallet size: Retire a whole stock of one footprint at once; want it sold or ground up, not landfilled.
Distribution centres with surplus pallets: Sell or recycle excess lots, mixed makers and colours, broken pallets.
Plastic recyclers and pallet makers: Buy broken pallets by weight as HDPE or PP feedstock; want clean, sorted, separated by resin and colour.

What the sources say

USDA APHIS requires wood packaging material entering the US to be treated and certified under ISPM 15, and lists plastic pallets among alternatives that are not subject to APHIS regulation. (aphis.usda.gov)
North American plastic pallets in the common sizes are about 5 to 6 in tall. (blog.containerexchanger.com)
PHS lists its EXP 100 nestable (48 x 40 x 5.2 in) at 78 pallets per stack and 2,340 per truckload, and its EXP 116 (48 x 40 x 5.75 in, 15,000 lb static) at 40 per stack and 1,260 per truckload: a higher static rating comes with fewer pallets per stack. (phsinc.com)
The five states with the largest gross refrigerated warehouse capacity on October 1, 2025 were California (400 million cubic feet), Georgia (304 million), Washington (301 million), Wisconsin (297 million) and Texas (254 million), per USDA NASS. (esmis.nal.usda.gov)
USDA APHIS lists plastic pallets among products not subject to APHIS regulation, as an alternative to wood packaging material. (aphis.usda.gov)
FM 4996 passes a pallet if fire is controlled at 5.9 mm/min (0.15 GPM/ft2) within a 10-minute test of eight 1.2 m stacks. (iccsafe.org)
A 48 x 40 pallet fits 30 stacks in a turned pattern on a 53 ft dry van, per one supplier. (nelsoncompany.com)
48 x 48 plastic pallets hold four 55-gallon drums without overhang; 48 x 45 matches North American auto parts bulk containers. (nelsoncompany.com)
In December 2011 a Los Angeles County Sheriff task force recovered over $250,000 of illegally obtained plastic pallets, including iGPS pallets, from a plastic recycler. (eponline.com)
Nelson Company defines dynamic capacity as the load a pallet carries in motion, always below static; static as the load at rest and the bottom pallet's limit in a stack; racking as the load across an open rack span, often the lowest and given only for pallets designed for it. (nelsoncompany.com)
Fastmarkets estimates 3.7 billion pallets were in circulation in the US in 2025, and that annual pallet production rose from about 800 million before the pandemic to nearly one billion afterward. (fastmarkets.com)
The five states with the most warehousing and storage jobs held 39% of the national total in 2025, and the top ten held 58% (California, Texas, Pennsylvania, Florida, Ohio, Georgia, Illinois, New Jersey, Indiana, New York), BLS QCEW. (data.bls.gov)
Wood packaging material entering the US must be treated and certified per ISPM 15. (aphis.usda.gov)
A Nelson 48 x 40 x 4.8 in nestable, stackable, rackable polypropylene pallet weighs 18.0 lb with ratings of 10,500 lb static, 3,100 lb dynamic and 2,700 lb racking, and is listed as ISPM 15 exempt. (nelsoncompany.com)
Only pallets designed for unsupported racking carry a racking rating. (nelsoncompany.com)
Pallet capacities are issued by the manufacturer from calculation and lab or field tests, and assume an evenly distributed load. (nelsoncompany.com)

Keep reading

Receiving desk

Send the lot

Size, count, grade, branding and ZIP. Photos help, and you can reply to the first answer with them. This site states no price or pickup date.

In the order you will use them

Count and photograph

Check the marks

Sort the pile

Send it