In a world where reduce, reuse, recycle is becoming a mantra for so many, you may be looking at ways to recycle your wooden pallets.

Wooden pallets are traditionally used for a variety of industries. For anything from moving around watermelons to bags of soil, their construct makes it easy for fork lifts to lift and move them where you want them to go. But what do you do with them once you’ve finished or they’re too damaged to use?

The answer is good news as there are lots of ways you can recycle wooden pallets.

Contact a pallet recycling company

There are companies out there that can take your broken, no longer usable pallets and use the materials to make new ones. A pallet that can be re-used may even be worth some money so contact your local supplier to see if they offer money to take them off your hands.

Depending on the size of the damage, they’ll either just repair and resell what you’ve given them, break them down to make composite pallets out of a mix of new and old wood, or shred them, removing and recycling the nails and staples as well. Shredded pallets make excellent mulch for gardens or children’s playgrounds.

Donate them to a good cause

If you have some wooden pallets laying around that can still be used, contact some local charities or animal shelters. They may find use for them as storage or even decoration.

Turn them into furniture

An increasingly popular trend is turning used pallets into furniture. A clever design student or furniture maker can make anything from coffee tables, to bookcases, to a dining room table and chairs, and even a bed. If you have some pallets you’d like to recycle why not ask around your local colleges to see if there are any students in need of material for their latest project. Or, someone in your workplace may have a talent for it, you never know.

Create a new garden space

Whether your office just needs an injection of greenery or you’re lucky enough to have an outdoor space which needs a little bit of attention, you can get creative with wooden pallets. Stand them against a wall, add some landscaping fabric to hold some soil, and fill the sections with flowers, herbs or even veggies. Or, lay them on the ground to make instant raised beds.

If you don’t have the space at home, again you could donate them to a local business that might. Perhaps a local daycare centre or school is looking at ways to add a veggie patch? As long as your old pallets are made from untreated wood, they can also make great compost bins. If they have been treated with something or used to carry around chemicals or fertilizers this is probably not something you should do. The residue of any harmful chemicals could leech into the compost or air around them.