Recycled Pallet Grades Explained
You asked for a quote on used pallets, and the answer came back in letters. A grade. B grade. Combo. Maybe #1 and #2. Said like you already knew what they meant, so you nodded along and hung up, no wiser.
Recycled Pallet Grades Explained
You asked for a quote on used pallets, and the answer came back in letters. A grade. B grade. Combo. Maybe #1 and #2. Said like you already knew what they meant, so you nodded along and hung up no wiser.
Here is what nobody tells you first: recycled pallet grades are not a certified standard. No inspector, no registry, no stamp. The letters are industry shorthand — used widely, understood broadly, written down nowhere official. Two yards can both sell you something they call B grade and hand you two different pallets.
That is not a reason to distrust the vocabulary. It is a reason to learn it well enough to ask the right follow-up question. Below: what each grade usually includes, what a repair looks like, how to inspect a load when the truck backs in, and which grade fits which job. Confirm the definitions with your own supplier before you order.
First, understand this: pallet grades are conventions, not regulations
No government body and no standards organization grades recycled pallets in Canada. There is no audit behind the letter on your quote. The A/B/#1/#2 vocabulary grew out of the trade because buyers and sellers needed a fast way to describe condition.
It is genuinely useful shorthand: say “A grade” in a yard anywhere in Southwestern Ontario and people picture roughly the same pallet. But “roughly” is doing real work there.
So ask for the definition in plain description, not in letters. Which repairs are allowed? What condition can the deck boards be in — missing, cracked, mismatched in thickness? What is the dimensional tolerance, and is every pallet in the load the same footprint?
Two suppliers quoting the same letter can be selling meaningfully different products. The letter starts the conversation; it is not the spec. If you are still weighing used stock against a fresh build, see new vs. recycled pallets: how to choose.
A grade / #1 pallets
A grade and #1 pallets have sound stringers that are unrepaired or only lightly repaired, a full set of top and bottom deck boards, and a clean, consistent look. B grade and #2 pallets carry visible repairs — plugged or companion stringers, replaced boards — with more wear and less consistency from pallet to pallet.
A grade is the cleanest reusable tier. Every stringer is sound, the deck is complete, sizes are consistent through the lot, and the pallet looks presentable rather than salvaged. Some wear is normal — surface marks, greyed weathering, and deck boards replaced earlier in the pallet’s life all pass, provided the replacements match in thickness and sit flush.
What generally does not pass: plugged or companion stringers, missing boards, protruding fasteners, mould or heavy staining, and mixed footprints in one load.
Order A grade when the pallet will be seen — customer shipments, retail-bound freight, racking after inspection, and any lane where unit-to-unit consistency matters to your handling equipment.
B grade / #2 pallets
B grade is the utility tier, and the repairs are meant to show. Expect plugged stringers, companion stringers, deck boards of visibly different ages and colour, more weathering, and more variation in dimension across the load.
Here is the point that gets lost: B grade is repaired, not broken. A properly fitted companion stringer restores the section of the member that was compromised, and a re-nailed deck is a fastened deck. What you are trading away is appearance, consistency and remaining trips — not the assumption that the pallet will hold together.
Order B grade for internal plant and yard movement, one-way outbound where the pallet is not coming back, bulk freight nobody outside your building sees, and scrap or waste handling.
What a pallet repair actually looks like
Four repairs cover almost everything you will see. Learn them, and you can read a load in minutes.
A replaced deck board is exactly that: a new or recovered board nailed in where a broken one came out. Check that it matches the thickness of its neighbours. A plug is a block let into a cracked stringer and fastened through, bridging the split. A companion stringer is a full second stringer sistered along a damaged one — the strongest of the common repairs, and the one you want under a heavier lane. Re-nailing means driving loose fasteners back or replacing them outright.
One detail worth knowing: good yards use helically threaded or ring-shank nails for repairs. They resist withdrawal far better than smooth shank, so a repaired joint stays tight through handling.
Combo pallets
A combo pallet is built from a mix of new and recovered components. New deck boards on recovered stringers is the common version; new stringers under sound recovered boards is the other. When the pallet is rebuilt into a different footprint out of recovered material, you will hear it called remanufactured.
A combo lands closer to new in appearance and consistency than a B grade does, without being a fully new build. That suits the job where a customer’s spec demands a clean look, but the lane does not call for all-new material.
Combos are often the best answer for non-standard sizes too. Recovered stringers can be cut down and rebuilt to a footprint that is not in general circulation.
How Oxford Wood Co. grades recycled pallets
Everything above is the trade vocabulary. Here is how it maps onto what you can actually order from the Norwich yard, because the lineup runs one step finer than the generic A/B split.
Grade AH is the highest grade — near-new condition, minimal wear, a clean appearance and full structural strength. It is the one to order for demanding or high-visibility loads, where the pallet goes somewhere a customer will see it.
Grade A is lightly used and consistent, with solid, reliable boards. A step below AH on appearance, dependable for everyday shipping. This is the workhorse for most outbound freight.
Grade B is the sound, economical tier — dependable for standard loads where appearance matters less than getting freight moved.
Grade B Heavy Duty is a reinforced, heavier-duty build that handles heavier loads and rough handling. It is built for durability over looks, which makes it the right call for punishing lanes and yards where pallets take a beating.
Block pallets are built on nine blocks — four corners, four mid-edges, one centre — with stringer boards running perpendicular over them. That gives true four-way entry for forklifts and pallet jacks alike, not the partial four-way you get from a notched stringer. Heavier build, more material, and the norm for tight rack aisles and unpredictable handling.
Euro pallets are the 1200 x 800 mm block-built footprint used across Europe. They turn up in Ontario wherever a European parent company or an export customer sets the standard.
Oxford grade | In plain terms | Order it when |
AH | Near-new, minimal wear, clean | The pallet will be seen, or the load is demanding |
A | Lightly used, consistent, solid boards | Everyday outbound shipping |
B | Sound and serviceable, wear shows | Appearance matters less than moving the freight |
B Heavy Duty | Reinforced build, heavier duty | Heavy loads, rough handling, punishing lanes |
Block | Nine-block build, true four-way entry | Pallet jacks, tight rack aisles, mixed handling |
Euro | 1200 x 800 mm block footprint | A European parent company or customer sets the spec |
Recycled stock is held in six standard footprints — 48” x 40”, 42” x 42”, 44–45” square, 48” x 42”, 48” x 45” and 48” x 48” — in a hard and softwood mix, with five bottom boards, three to five stringers and maximum deck spacing between 3⅛” and 3½” depending on the size. Two-way or four-way entry varies by footprint. The full grade and size breakdown is on the recycled pallets page.
One thing that does not change with a finer grade scale: a grade still describes condition, not load capacity. AH tells you the pallet is clean and sound. It does not tell you what it will carry in a rack beam. That is a build question, and it is covered below.
Pallet grade comparison chart
Grade | Typical condition | Repairs allowed | Dimensional consistency | Typical remaining trips | Best-fit use |
A grade (#1) | Clean, complete deck, light weathering | None to minor; matched board replacement | High — one footprint per load | Most of its service life | Customer-facing freight, racking after inspection |
B grade (#2) | Visible wear, mismatched boards, weathered | Plugs, companion stringers, replaced boards, re-nailing | Moderate; varies by supplier | Fewer than A grade; varies by supplier | Internal movement, one-way outbound, waste |
Combo | Mixed new and recovered parts, tidy | New parts fitted to sound recovered ones | High — built to a spec | Close to a new build | Clean-look lanes, non-standard footprints |
Dismantle stock | Below reissue — broken stringers, rot, mould | Not repaired for reissue | Not applicable | None — not reissued | Lumber recovery and grinding, not shipping |
How to inspect a load of recycled pallets on arrival
Ten minutes at the dock saves an argument later:
1. Pull a random sample of ten pallets from different spots in the load — front, back, bottom courses — not the top layer, which always looks best.
2. Check every stringer for cracks at the notch. That is where failures start, and they are easy to miss from above.
3. Look along the sides for shiners — nails that missed the stringer and stand proud. They snag product and tear stretch wrap.
4. Press down on the deck boards. Loose ones move under hand pressure, and they move under load too.
5. Check for mould, water staining or a musty odour. Any of those means the stock got wet and sat.
6. Confirm every pallet is the same footprint. Mixed sizes break automated handling and racking.
7. Check that lead boards are chamfered if you run pallet jacks.
8. Count deck boards against the grade you agreed, top and bottom.
Agree the rejection process before the first load, not after it. Settle what happens to off-grade pallets — swapped on the next delivery, or credited — and put it in writing.
Which grade should you order?
Map the job to the grade:
• Customer-facing or retail-bound freight — AH, or A where the look matters less.
• Racking — AH or A, and confirm the racking rating specifically, because grade is not a load rating.
• Internal yard and plant movement — B.
• One-way outbound that is not coming back — B.
• Heavy loads or rough handling — B Heavy Duty.
• Pallet jacks or tight rack aisles — block, for the true four-way entry.
• Non-standard footprint — combo.
• Export — not a grade question at all. You need heat-treated, CFIA-stamped stock.
Now the caveat that matters most: grade describes condition, not load capacity. A grade tells you how much wear and repair a pallet carries. It tells you nothing about what the pallet will hold. If you are racking, stacking or moving anything heavy, ask for a build specification — board thickness, stringer dimension, fastener pattern — not a letter. For that, see how much weight a pallet can hold.
Where recycled pallet grades come from in Southwestern Ontario
A yard’s ability to hold a grade week after week comes down to inbound volume. Grading is sorting, and you cannot sort what you do not receive. Pallets come back from businesses across the region, get sorted by size and condition, repaired where repair makes sense, and regraded.
Oxford Pallet takes in recycled product across the Woodstock, Ingersoll, Tillsonburg, London, Brantford, Kitchener–Waterloo and Hamilton corridor. That steady flow back into the Norwich yard is what makes grade availability consistent rather than occasional.
If you have pallets going out the back door, what to do with used and broken pallets in Ontario explains how the buyback and reimbursement side works.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the difference between A grade and B grade pallets?
A grade / #1 pallets have sound, unrepaired or lightly repaired stringers, a full set of deck boards and a clean, consistent appearance. B grade / #2 pallets carry visible repairs — plugged or companion stringers, replaced boards — with more wear and less consistency.
What is an AH grade pallet?
AH is the top recycled grade in Oxford Wood Co.’s lineup — near-new condition with minimal wear, a clean appearance and full structural strength. It sits above standard A grade on looks and consistency, and it is the grade to order when the pallet will be seen or the load is demanding.
Are B grade pallets safe to use?
Yes, for the work they are built for. Properly repaired B grade pallets handle general freight and internal movement reliably. Inspect them on arrival like any load, and for racking or heavy loads ask for a specified build rather than relying on the grade letter.
What is a combo pallet?
A pallet built from a mix of new and recovered components — for example, new deck boards fitted to recovered stringers. Combos give you a close-to-new appearance and consistency without a fully new build, and they suit non-standard footprints that are hard to source otherwise.
Is pallet grading a certified standard?
No. A/B/#1/#2 grading is industry convention, not a regulated standard. Definitions are broadly consistent but vary between yards, so confirm what repairs and board conditions your supplier includes in each grade before you order, and agree a rejection process up front.
Get a Quote on Graded Recycled Pallets
Tell us the lane, the footprint and the volume, and whether the pallets come back to you or go out one way. We will match the grade to the job instead of selling you more pallets than the work needs.
The recycled pallet grades leaving our Norwich yard started as pallets that came back in through our pallet retrieval program — sorted, repaired and regraded here, then loaded onto our own trucks. Full circle, with very little going to waste.
Request a quote, or call us at 519-468-3400 and talk to someone who has spent time in the yard.
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