Remanufactured pallet
A pallet built from boards salvaged by dismantling other pallets.
A remanufactured pallet is built from boards taken out of pallets that couldn't be repaired. The donor pallets are dismantled, often with a band saw that cuts through the nails, and sound boards are sorted, trimmed and assembled into new pallets, sometimes in a different size.
Remanufacturing keeps most of the wood in pallet use. Only broken pieces and offcuts go to grinding. For a site that sends pallets to a recycler, that means a pallet you'd call scrap may still end up partly reused.
In EPA's WARM model, recovered dimensional lumber is modelled as reuse, at −1.66 MTCO2E per short ton (Exhibit 12-3). Remanufactured boards fit that description; ground offcuts don't. See remanufacture.
Ask your recycler how many of the pallets it collects from you end up in remanufacture rather than the grinder.
Sources
- Documentation for Greenhouse Gas Emission and Energy Factors Used in WARM, Version 16: Construction Materials Chapters, ch. 12 Wood Products (EPA-530-R-23-020) U.S. EPA. Accessed October 27, 2026. Exhibits 12-3 (p. 12-3), 12-9, 12-13, 12-15 and 12-16 (p. 12-10).