WE RECYCLE:

• wooden pallets
• cardboard pallets
• chipboard pallets

WE DO NOT RECYCLE:

• plastic pallets

HOW TO RECYCLE:

• most pallets at UST have been left at one of the seven UST loading docks. The recycling team picks up these pallets on a regular basis and stages them at the Physical Plant until there are enough to take to a pallet recycler.
• If you see empty pallets left somewhere on campus besides the loading docks or if you have received a delivery on a pallet and need the pallet removed, please call the Recycling Center at 962-6388 for a pick up.

FACTS ABOUT PALLETS:

• The sorting, collection and utilization of recovered wood is one of the newer and more rapidly expanding segments of recycling activity. The recycling of urban wood waste, woody debris from suburban land clearing and rural forestry residuals was virtually nonexistent before 1990. Most wood waste and debris was landfilled, burned or left to rot. Today, well over 500 processors operate in the U.S. and Canada. (from Resource Recycling, March '98)
• "Pallet manufacture in the United States consumes an astonishing 40% of the country's annual hardwood harvest. According to Big City Forest, a pallet-rescue program in New York City, by reclaiming just half of the pallets discarded annually in the nation's 50 biggest metropolitan areas, 152,000 acres of timberland could be preserved." (from Choose to Reuse by Nikki & David Goldbeck, 1995)
• In the last school year '06-'07, UST recycled over 18 tons of pallets.
• Pallets to be recycled are sorted by the recycling team into two grades. The best grade is "4 by 4s" or "four-ways" which measure 48" by 40". This is the standard shipping pallet size, and these pallets bring a financial rebate to the recycling program. Most other sized pallets are broken down and used in making new pallets.  We do recycle pressed board or chipboard pallets.
• Approximately, 4.7 billion board feet of solid hardwood and 2.2 billion board feet of softwood was consumed in 1992 for the production of pallets. The wood pallet and container industry is the largest user of hardwood lumber in the United States.
• Recycled pallets are also used for poultry litter, livestock bedding, fuel, pulp furnish and charcoal furnish. For more information about wood pallets and their recycling, visit the National Wooden Pallet & Container Association.
• Pallets are available free of charge to interested members of the UST community. For more information, please call the recycling center at 962-6388.

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