Price a clean-out
Rough pile size, site postcode and access constraints. Photos help enormously.
One or two days, usually.
Walk it first
We look at access, pile stability, what is underneath, and whether there is anything in there that is not wood. A pile that has stood five years usually contains surprises.
Sort on site
Anything repairable is pulled out and loaded whole — you get paid for that portion. We would rather carry a pallet out than a board.
Dismantle the rest
Crews break the remainder down on site. Boards long enough to reuse go on the trailer for the repair line; the rest goes for fiber.
Metal recovery
Nails, plates and banding are collected and routed to a scrap recycler rather than buried in a grinder feed.
Sweep and ticket
Magnetic sweep of the pad, debris cleared, and certified weight tickets for everything that left — which is what your environmental file actually needs.
- A meaningful share of any old pile is still repairable, and we pay for that portion
- Board salvage has value, so the haulage line is partly offset
- Scrap metal recovery offsets a little more
- One or two trailer loads replaces a succession of dumpster pulls at tipping rates
- No landfill tipping fees at all, because nothing goes to landfill
Four questions before we send a crew.
Can a trailer get to it? Pile access decides whether this is a one-day job or a three-day job.
Is it only wood? Drums, electrical waste and treated lumber all need segregating and some of it needs a licensed partner.
What is underneath? Five-year-old piles are frequently sitting on something nobody remembers.
Who signs off on site? Induction, PPE standard and a named contact.
Fire load
A large unmanaged wood pile against a building is one of the easiest findings for an inspector to write up, and one of the cheapest to resolve.
Pest habitat
Rodents and insects nest in standing pallet piles. Food-sector sites in particular get written up for this during audits.
Trip and crush risk
Piles settle unpredictably. Nobody should be climbing one to get a usable pallet off the top, and yet.
Where the material goes, and what you get on paper.
Repairable platforms are bought, boards are salvaged, metal is recycled and the remainder is ground. Nothing is landfilled, and every stream is weighed.
| Product | Screen | Feedstock | Bulk density | Sold by | Typical use |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Natural landscape mulch | Double ground, 1–2 in | Untreated pallet wood, debarked | ~500 lb / yd³ | Cubic yard | Beds, borders, commercial landscaping |
| Coloured mulch, black | Double ground, dyed | Untreated pallet wood | ~520 lb / yd³ | Cubic yard | Retail and municipal planting |
| Coloured mulch, brown | Double ground, dyed | Untreated pallet wood | ~520 lb / yd³ | Cubic yard | Retail and municipal planting |
| Animal bedding | Fine, dust-screened | Clean softwood only, kiln dried ≤19% | ~380 lb / yd³ | Cubic yard or bale | Stables, poultry, small livestock |
| Erosion-control fiber | Long strand | Mixed clean wood | ~340 lb / yd³ | Cubic yard | Slope stabilisation, construction sites |
| Biomass boiler chip | 2–3 in | All remaining clean wood | ~560 lb / yd³ | Ton | Industrial boilers, co-generation |
Densities are nominal for loose material at delivery moisture and will vary with weather. Minimum delivery is ten cubic yards inside the Richmond metro; no minimum if you load at the yard.
| Document | When | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| Certified weigh ticket | Every inbound and outbound movement | The evidentiary basis of any diversion claim |
| Count sheet by grade | Every purchase of your surplus | You get the sheet, not a summary |
| ISPM-15 batch record | Any heat-treated consignment | Turns a port query into an email |
| Pallet Passport record | Any remanufactured platform | Origin, repair history, treatment batch, running ledger |
| Quarterly diversion report | Programme customers | Measured tonnage for ESG reporting, not an industry average |
| Feedstock segregation attestation | Mulch and bedding buyers | Written statement of what the wood was |
| Certificate of insurance | On request | Named-insured endorsements for on-site crews |
| Grading criteria statement | On request | The written standard our graders work to |
Ask for any of these before an audit rather than during one. Assembling the pack takes us an afternoon and converts verbal questions into documents.