A North Carolina State University team of Urs Buehlmann and Tom Fluharty conducted a survey in 2004 of the North Carolina pallet recycling industry. We are presenting some of their results here both for their informational value and to illustrate the potential that surveys might offer for our industry.
Executive Summary
According to 1997 estimates, only 37% (151,661 tons) of pallets discarded in North Carolina were reused or recycled, while the remainder were brought to landfills or turned into low valued products. To avoid landfilling such large quantities of clean wood, the North Carolina legislature is currently contemplating a ban on discarding pallets into landfills.
A survey was mailed to the 103 companies identified as pallet recyclers in North Carolina. Thirty-four responses were obtained for an adjusted response rate of 33 %.
The study found that the average pallet recycler in North Carolina employs 33 people and recycles roughly 350,000 pallets a year. Of the pallets received, 20% are reused, 44% refurbished, 19% recycled and 15% ground up. Seventy-seven percent of all pallets resold are furnished to manufacturing industries, followed by private customers (9%) and food retailers (8%). Eighty-five percent of the recyclers indicated that they could sell more pallets if they had additional pallets to sell. Almost 60% supported a landfill ban on pallets, with 15% being undecided and 18% opposing such a ban. The rest of the companies had no opinion or an opinion different from the options offered.
At present operating capacity (83%), researchers estimate that 36.5 million pallets are recycled each year in North Carolina. At present volumes, the industry’s current annual business volume is estimated at $173 million. This survey’s results suggest that many industry estimates about the number of recycled pallets may be low. The Pallet Enterprise staff has long felt that the number of recycled pallets in such estimates are well below the true size of the pallet recycling industry.
Fifty-six percent of the companies surveyed plan to increase their pallet recycling capacity in the near future. Once this capacity is available, North Carolina should soon be able to recycle over 50 million pallets a year.
Given existing recycling expansion plans and the ease of adding additional recycling capacity, pallet recyclers could manage a ban on landfilling pallets given an appropriate phase-in period. Any constraint would more likely be on selling additional recycled pallets, rather than the technical capacity to recycle. However, as also found in this survey, 85% of the companies indicated that they could sell more pallets if they had them, thus making a landfilling ban even more likely to be a successful proposition. Readers may relate to the recycling market in North Carolina, particularly the shortage of cores. Recyclers around the country tell our staff they could sell more recycled pallets if they were available.
Research Methods
The researchers compiled a list of 155 pallet recyclers in North Carolina and mailed them survey copies. Particular attention was placed on present and future pallet recycling capacity. They initially received 38 responses, followed up non-respondents with telephone calls, and conducted a second mailing using the corrected list. The companies that did not respond to the two mailings were called again and questioned over the phone. Based upon contact responses, an updated list of 103 North Carolina recycling businesses was compiled; the other 52 companies from the original list were either out of business, or not recycling pallets, or a duplicate address of another business, or not willing to respond to the survey. The adjusted response rate of companies that recycle pallets was 33%.
