Pallets are the rare piece of junk with an entire industry built around taking them off your hands. Kansas City moves enough freight that used pallets have real value here, so the usual question is which free route fits, and whether someone might actually pay you for them.
First, read the stamp
Look for the IPPC stamp on the block. HT means heat-treated: safe wood, fine to reuse, the kind crafters want. MB means methyl bromide fumigation, so don't reuse it indoors, don't build furniture with it, and never burn it. No stamp usually means a domestic-only pallet, which is fine for recycling routes. Skip the fire pit either way, since pallet wood picks up spills from every load it ever carried.
A stack of standard pallets: the recyclers come to you
If you've got quantity, like a business with pallets piling up behind the building, KC's pallet recyclers handle it. KC Pallets runs removal and recycling across the metro, and Used Pallet Recycling offers free pickup for larger loads of standard 48×40 GMA pallets and pays for pallets in resellable condition. Kamps Pallets buys in bulk as well, depending on size and condition. The standard 48×40 is the valuable one; odd sizes and broken pallets are usually a free-removal item, not a paid one.
A few pallets at the house: the internet wants them
For the homeowner with three pallets from a mattress delivery, skip the industrial route. A free listing on Facebook Marketplace, Craigslist, or Nextdoor moves HT pallets in days, for garden projects, pallet furniture, and firewood racks. Set them by the garage, post a photo, and they walk away on their own.
Broken, moldy, or painted: the trash stream
Splintered and rotten pallets aren't worth anyone's pickup. Broken down with a saw, the pieces can go out with regular trash in most metro cities, or ride a load to the transfer station. Don't chip or compost them, because treated and contaminated wood doesn't belong in mulch.
Where we fit
We haul pallets by the stack, quoted by volume, usually as part of a bigger cleanout: the garage that's half pallets, the commercial back lot, the estate with a barn full of them. If you've got fifty clean 48×40s, call a pallet recycler first and keep the money; if you've got a mixed mess you want gone this week, that's us.
Related: commercial junk removal
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