Old pallet disposal

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Bspring

Feeling the Heat
Aug 3, 2007
370
Greenville, SC
What do you do with you old pallets? After a few years they rot and need to be replaced. Do you dig them out and dispose of them or stack the new on top of the old?
 
I go through mine and cut up what is good for fire starters for next year and the rest burn pile.
 
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I put some kind of base under them to keep them from contact with the soil. My latest versions are on concrete blocks or on dead Sassafras logs. Sass is supposed to resist rot. Oak pallets will last upwards of 10 years if they are up off the ground...
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I've been getting rid of my pallets as the wood comes off them. The new stacks are on PVC pipe. The pallets wouldn't survive another load of wood. I break them up and burn them in the fire pit. I guess there are ways to get the pallets off the ground, but I have been doing the pipe thing for three years and they look fine.
 
i have a ton of them I just scooped mine in a pile - its to close to the woods to burn and I don't like nails around my loaded tractor tires ! so mine go to the land fill in the dump trailer. wish I had a place to burn them would make it much easier
 
I stack 6 to 7 feet high so the pallets can not support the weight if they are on blocks. I really like the idea of the PCV pipe. I will look into the cost of that.
 
Break them up and into the compost pile... it takes several more years for them to fully compost but I just have an ongoing rotation of compost piles where all my splitter trash, rotten pallets, etc go. In a few years I have amazing compost to add to the garden/landscaping.
 
Break them up and into the compost pile... it takes several more years for them to fully compost but I just have an ongoing rotation of compost piles where all my splitter trash, rotten pallets, etc go. In a few years I have amazing compost to add to the garden/landscaping.

You don't mind the nails in there?
 
Anyone ever tried putting a sheet of plastic down and the pallets on top of that? I was wondering if it would make them last longer. They will be under a pole barn but still rot when in contact with the ground.
 
Anyone ever tried putting a sheet of plastic down and the pallets on top of that? I was wondering if it would make them last longer. They will be under a pole barn but still rot when in contact with the ground.

I to considered plastic, but I envisioned some issues. Water will pool, rotting the pallets and creating a breading ground for mosquitos. I haven't done this, but had an idea to put down a bed or gravel.
 
You don't mind the nails in there?
I've never run across any pallets that had stainless steel nails; regular carbon-steel nails rust away to nothing.
 
Toss in the woods as tree food.
 
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