The pallet industry is enormous — and its environmental footprint matches its scale. In the United States alone, there are an estimated 2 billion pallets in circulation at any given time, with 500 million new pallets manufactured annually.
The lumber consumption is staggering. Pallet production accounts for approximately 40% of all hardwood lumber and 17% of all softwood lumber consumed in the US. That's roughly 7.1 billion board feet of lumber every year — enough to build 350,000 homes.
But the story isn't all negative. The pallet industry is also one of the largest recycling operations in America. Approximately 508 million pallets are recovered for recycling each year, and the recycling rate for wood pallets exceeds 95% — one of the highest of any product category.
The carbon story is nuanced. Wood pallets are made from a renewable resource, and growing trees absorb CO₂. When pallets are recycled rather than landfilled, the carbon remains stored in the wood for additional years. When the wood finally reaches end-of-life, it can be converted to biomass energy, displacing fossil fuels.
Landfilling, however, tells a different story. Wood pallets in landfills decompose anaerobically, producing methane — a greenhouse gas 28 times more potent than CO₂. An estimated 25 million pallets still reach landfills annually, generating approximately 2.6 million metric tons of CO₂ equivalent.
At Riverside Pallet Co., we're working to drive that landfill number to zero. Our 98% material recovery rate means virtually nothing leaves our facility as waste. Every board, every nail, every wood chip is redirected to a productive use.
The future of the pallet industry lies in closing the loop entirely. By maximizing reuse, repair, and recycling, we can continue to meet the world's logistics needs while dramatically reducing our environmental impact.