Styles · Fire-rated

Sell fire-rated plastic pallets

A fire-rated plastic pallet is listed and labelled under FM 4996 or UL 2335, so a sprinkler design may treat it as wood. An unlisted plastic pallet can raise the storage class.

Last reviewed November 12, 2026

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Fire-rated: the drawn pallet to inspect

Fire-rated: the specs

FM 4996 pass: Fire controlled at 5.9 mm/min (0.15 GPM/ft2) within a 10-minute test
UL 2335: Idle pallet test and commodity storage test
Code treatment: Listed and labeled pallets may be treated as wood for sprinkler design
Note: Unlisted plastic pallets can raise the commodity classification.

How a buyer reads fire-rated pallets

The International Fire Code permits pallets listed and labelled under FM 4996 or UL 2335 to be treated as wood pallets for sprinkler design. FM 4996 passes a pallet if fire is controlled at 5.9 mm per minute within a ten-minute test of eight stacks of 1.2 m. UL 2335 has an idle pallet test and a commodity storage test.

An ICC article says unlisted plastic pallets may require raising the commodity hazard class by two classes, and gives an example needing about 55 percent more sprinkler water. NFPA requires wood and plastic pallets to be stored outdoors or in a detached structure unless sprinklers protect them. So a listing label is part of a pallet's value to a warehouse.

Do not claim a listing the pallet does not carry. This page is not fire-safety advice; check with your fire-protection engineer and local code.

Who has fire-rated pallets to sell

What to send with a fire-rated lot

Photos of the FM or UL label
The listing number, if printed
Footprint and count
Whether the pallets are used or new

Choose the style in the pile sorter and it will draw the stack as that style, then carry your answers into the form below.

SOLD

Fire-rated pallets that are whole, clean and unmarked.

RETURN

Fire-rated pallets carrying a pool name, logo or RFID tag.

SCRAP

Fire-rated pallets with cracked, burnt or crushed decks.

Do plastic pallets need a fire rating?

It depends on how they are stored and what your sprinkler design assumes. Listed and labelled pallets can be treated as wood; unlisted plastic may raise the class.

Which pallets are fire-rated?

A pooled iGPS pallet was announced with FM approval in 2008 and had UL 2335 from 2007, but that pallet is a pool's. Check the label on each pallet you hold.

Words you will meet

Commodity classification: Sprinkler design class of stored goods; an unlisted plastic pallet can raise it.
FM 4996: FM Approvals standard that rates a pallet as equal to wood in fire tests.
Heat treated (HT): ISPM 15 treatment for wood: core at 56 C for 30 minutes. Not needed for plastic.
UL 2335: UL fire-test standard for storage pallets, with an idle pallet test and a commodity storage test.
Nest increment: How much height each extra nested pallet adds to a stack.
Thermoforming: Heated plastic sheet formed over a mould; lighter pallets.
Profile extrusion: Pushing resin through a die to make long shapes that form pallet parts.
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.
Edge rack: Resting on the rack beams by the pallet's edges only, with no support in the middle.
Nestable: Empty pallets stack inside one another, cutting empty storage space by up to 75 percent.
Nest ratio: How many empty pallets fit in the height of one.
Fork pocket: Opening in the pallet where the forks go.
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.
Closed loop: Pallets that travel between known sites and come back, so they are never lost to a downstream user.

Who asks, and what they need

Warehouses with automated storage: Rackable pallets with a stated rack rating, cruciform base, consistent size for conveyors.
Retailers that collect pooled or one-way pallets: Stacks of marked and unmarked pallets left by suppliers; need to know which can be sold and which belong to a pool.
Distribution centres with surplus pallets: Sell or recycle excess lots, mixed makers and colours, broken pallets.

What the sources say

An ICC article says unlisted plastic pallets may require raising the commodity hazard class by two classes, and gives an example needing about 55 percent more sprinkler water. (iccsafe.org)
The International Fire Code permits pallets listed and labeled under FM 4996 or UL 2335 to be treated as wood pallets for sprinkler design. (iccsafe.org)
NFPA requires wood and plastic pallets to be stored outdoors or in a detached structure unless sprinklers protect them. (en.wikipedia.org)
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)
iGPS announced FM approval in 2008 for its all-plastic RFID-tagged pooled pallet, which had UL 2335 certification from 2007. (freightwaves.com)
UL 2335 has an idle pallet test and a commodity storage test. (iccsafe.org)
EPA's 2018 municipal solid waste data: plastics generation was 35.68 million tons, of which 3.09 million tons (8.7 percent) were recycled and 26.97 million tons landfilled; natural HDPE bottles were recycled at 29.3 percent. The page gives no pallet-specific or polypropylene figure. (epa.gov)
USDA NASS counted 3.99 billion cubic feet of gross refrigerated warehouse capacity in the US on October 1, 2025, with usable capacity of 3.25 billion cubic feet (82 percent of gross). (esmis.nal.usda.gov)
The Northwest Seaport Alliance (Seattle and Tacoma) handled 3,156,598 TEUs of international and domestic containers in 2025, down 5.5 percent from 2024, with full imports down 10.3 percent and full exports down 4.9 percent. (nwseaportalliance.com)
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)
Steel, aluminum, plastic and engineered-wood pallets are exempt from ISPM 15; wood must reach a core temperature of 56 C for at least 30 minutes for heat treatment. (en.wikipedia.org)
Plastic pallets weigh about 3 to 15 lb when light and up to 300 lb when heavy; a typical GMA wood pallet weighs about 37 lb. (en.wikipedia.org)
The 48 x 40 in GMA pallet makes up about 30 percent of new US wood pallets. (en.wikipedia.org)
About 500 million pallets are made each year as of 2020, with about 2 billion in use in the US. (en.wikipedia.org)
A 2010 insurer figure cited by ICC puts fire spread to a pallet above at about 18 minutes for plastic versus nearly 50 for wood. (iccsafe.org)
Resin identification codes do not indicate whether a product is recyclable; ASTM D7611 governs the coding. (en.wikipedia.org)

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