Plastic or timber pallets? It depends where the pallet is going.

Plastic wins on hygiene, water and quarantine. Timber wins on price, strength per dollar and repairability. The right answer is usually both, in different parts of the same operation, and the wrong answer is the one chosen on price alone.

Get a price on plastic or timber Plastic pallets: sizes and ratings

Or call Jayden on 0494 820 639, 7am to 5pm weekdays.

Quick answer

Plastic or timber pallets?

Plastic for closed loops in wet, chilled, food and pharmaceutical areas, and for export without the ISPM 15 stamp, as long as the pallet comes back. Timber for everything that leaves the building and may not return, for racking at a tonne or more per pallet, and for the standard 1165 freight the supply chain is built around. Plastic costs several times more to buy and cannot be repaired; timber is cheaper, repairable and bought back when you are done.

Side by side

How do plastic and timber pallets compare?

Question	Timber	Plastic
Price to buy	Lower. Published from-prices for the standard grades on the prices page.	Higher per pallet, several times a used timber pallet for a rackable one.
Trips before it is done	Fewer, but a damaged one is repaired cheaply and goes again.	Many more in a closed loop; a cracked plastic pallet cannot be repaired.
Export and quarantine	Needs heat treatment and the ISPM 15 stamp for most destinations.	Exempt from ISPM 15; no stamp, no treatment, no quarantine hold on the timber.
Wet, cold and wash down areas	Absorbs water, grows mould, sheds splinters.	Washable, no absorption, no splinters, no loose fasteners.
Weight	Hardwood standard 30 to 45 kg.	Nestable 6 to 12 kg, rackable 18 to 30 kg.
Racking	New, A and heavy duty go on beams; B after a check.	Rackable types only, to the moulded rating; nestable never.
Open loop (the pallet leaves with the goods)	Cheap enough to lose; one way grades exist for exactly this.	Too dear to lose; only for closed loops where it comes back.
End of life	Repaired, reused, then chipped; bought back as sound stock or cores.	Resold if sound; reprocessed into plastic feedstock if cracked.

Where each one wins

When should I choose plastic, and when timber?

Choose plastic for a closed loop in a wet, chilled or food area: freezer and chiller racking, wash down floors, pharmaceutical and food production where loose timber and fasteners are a contamination risk. Choose it for export where quarantine holds have cost you before, and where the pallet comes back or is reused at the other end. Choose nestable plastic where pallets are moved by hand and stacked empty in a small space.

Choose timber for everything that leaves the building and may not come back: one way outbound, deliveries to sites and customers, and the standard 1165 freight the whole Australian supply chain is built around. Choose it for racking at a tonne or more per pallet, where a new, grade A or heavy duty hardwood pallet carries the load for a fraction of the price of a rackable plastic one. Choose heat treated softwood for export when the pallet is not coming back.

Most operations run both: plastic inside the cold and wet areas on a closed loop, timber for storage, freight and outbound. The mistake in either direction is expensive, a plastic pallet lost on an open loop or a timber pallet refused at quarantine, so the quote names the type, the grade and where it is going.

Cost per trip

Which is cheaper per trip?

Divide the price by the trips you will get out of it. A used timber pallet in an open loop makes one trip for its price and that is the whole sum. A rackable plastic pallet in a closed loop may make hundreds of trips, so its price per trip can fall below timber, but only if it comes back every time; the first one lost on a customer's dock sets the sum back by months. Count the loss rate honestly before you buy plastic for anything that leaves the site.

Plastic: closed loop, wet or cold, hygiene, export without the stamp
Timber: open loop, racking at weight, everyday freight, lowest price to buy
Export: heat treated timber if it is not coming back, plastic if it is
Both bought back when you are done: sound plastic resold, sound timber bought, cores credited

Sizes and ratings are on the plastic pallet page and the pallet guide; weights by type on how much a pallet weighs.

Getting a number

Say where the pallet is going and whether it comes back.

Closed loop or open, wet or dry, racked or floor, export or domestic. The quote names plastic or timber, the type and the grade in writing, priced the same business day when you ask before 2pm.

Get a price on plastic or timber Plastic pallets: sizes and ratings

Questions about plastic and timber pallets

Do plastic pallets need heat treatment for export?

No. ISPM 15 applies to solid wood packaging, so plastic pallets are exempt: no treatment, no stamp, no quarantine hold on the pallet itself. Timber export pallets need heat treatment and the IPPC mark for most destinations.

Are plastic pallets cheaper than timber?

To buy, no: a rackable plastic pallet costs several times a used timber pallet. Per trip in a closed loop they can be cheaper, because they make many more trips, but only if they come back every time.

Can plastic pallets go in racking?

Rackable plastic pallets can, to the rating moulded into them. Nestable plastic pallets cannot; they flex between beams and belong on the floor or in transport.

Which is better for a freezer?

Plastic. Timber absorbs water, freezes, grows mould on the way out and sheds splinters. Rackable plastic for anything that goes on beams in the freezer, nestable for floor stock.

Do you buy back plastic pallets?

Yes. Sound plastic pallets are resold and bought on the same pickup as timber; cracked ones go to plastics reprocessing rather than landfill. Say roughly how many and whether they are nestable or rackable.

What should outbound deliveries go on?

Timber, in a one way or grade C pallet, if the customer does not return pallets. A plastic pallet that leaves on an open loop is a plastic pallet you have given away.

Prefer to talk? Call Jayden on 0494 820 639. Prices for the standard timber grades are on the prices page.

Call 0494 820 639 Get a price