My husband has been collecting discarded wood pallets and shipping crates for years. Businesses that receive pallets and shipping crates include hardware and appliance stores, building supply outlets, and manufacturing businesses. The pallets are usually stacked next to dumpsters and are free for the taking. Discarded wood pallets and shipping crates are everywhere; you just have to know where to look!
We burn the pallets that aren’t in the best shape to get free heat during our frigid Vermont winters. With the best pallet wood (and occasional wood shipping containers), my husband has built a greenhouse, toolshed and storage shed. He’s also fenced our garden and put siding on a barn.
For the next wood pallet project, we’re going to replace the living room carpet with wood pallet flooring. Yes?—?we have enough pallets to do this!
The cost of the wood pallets equals only the cost of the gas to go pick them up. Not only are we keeping the pallets out of the landfill, but we’re also doing the businesses a favor by saving them the trash fee.
Kitty Werner
Waitsfield, Vermont
