Carbon methodology
In short
Every carbon figure we publish uses six constants: 47% oven-dry carbon content of wood, the 44/12 molecular mass ratio converting carbon to carbon dioxide, 200 pallet-grade board feet recovered from one mature sawlog tree, 2.0 lb of steel fasteners per pallet, 0.247 cubic yards of loose landfill volume per pallet, and 11.4 kg CO₂e of avoided manufacturing per new pallet not built. Transport is deliberately excluded from the calculator and included in site-specific reporting. All of it is below, with the reasoning.
Want the site-specific version?
Planning estimates are what this page supports. For a reportable figure we use your actual weighbridge tickets and your actual lane mileage. Ask for it.
The constants
| Constant | Value | Basis |
|---|---|---|
| Carbon fraction of wood | 0.47 of oven-dry mass | Widely used figure for temperate hardwood and softwood species; conservative within the 0.45–0.50 range reported in forestry literature. |
| Carbon to CO₂ conversion | 44 / 12 = 3.667 | Molecular mass ratio. Not an estimate. |
| Pallet mass, hardwood | 42 lb | Mid-point of our measured 48×40 recycled hardwood range (33–48 lb) weighted toward observed yard average. |
| Pallet mass, softwood | 34 lb | Mid-point of measured softwood range. |
| Wood density, hardwood | 45 lb/ft³ | Mixed oak, maple and poplar at service moisture content. |
| Board feet per sawlog tree | 200 bf | Pallet-grade recovery from a mature hardwood sawlog. Deliberately conservative; yields of 150–250 bf are commonly cited. |
| Steel per pallet | 2.0 lb | 70–100 fasteners at observed mass. Our measured recovery from the dismantling line. |
| Landfill volume per pallet | 0.247 yd³ | Geometric volume of a 48×40×6 in unit, uncompacted. |
| Avoided manufacturing per new pallet | 11.4 kg CO₂e | Felling, extraction, kiln energy, mill transport and assembly for a new hardwood 48×40. Applied only when recycled stock demonstrably replaces a new purchase. |
| Passenger vehicle equivalent | 4.6 tonnes CO₂e / year | US EPA figure for an average passenger vehicle. Used only for illustration. |
The arithmetic
- Annual pallet count = monthly volume × 12.
- Wood mass (lb) = annual count × species mass.
- Carbon mass (lb) = wood mass × 0.47.
- CO₂ equivalent (lb) = carbon mass × 3.667. For a 42 lb hardwood pallet this yields roughly 72 lb CO₂e held out of the atmosphere.
- Avoided manufacturing (tonnes) = annual count × 11.4 kg ÷ 1000, applied only where recycled stock replaces a new purchase.
- Board feet displaced = (wood mass ÷ density) × 12.
- Trees = board feet ÷ 200.
- Landfill volume (yd³) = annual count × 0.247.
- Steel recovered (lb) = annual count × 2.0.
What is deliberately excluded
Transport
Excluded from the calculator entirely. Freight emissions depend on lane distance, equipment, load factor and backhaul availability, and any tool-level assumption would be a guess dressed as a figure. We include it in site-specific reporting using actual mileage and actual equipment. It is also, honestly, the largest single emissions line in a recycled pallet’s life — which is precisely why we do not want to estimate it loosely.
Repeated counting across trips
The carbon in a pallet is counted once. Reuse retains that carbon out of the atmosphere for longer; it does not create additional sequestration on each trip. Suppliers who multiply the full embodied carbon of a new pallet by the number of trips a recycled one makes are counting the same tonne repeatedly, and the resulting numbers are not defensible.
End-of-life release
Wood ground into mulch releases its carbon over a few years; wood burned as biomass releases it immediately. Our figures describe carbon retained during service life, not permanent sequestration, and we state that rather than implying permanence.
Yard operations
Electricity, kiln fuel and forklift propane at Evendale are not deducted in the calculator. They are real and they are modest relative to the diversion benefit, but excluding them makes our number slightly flattering and we would rather say so than quietly leave it out.
How site reporting differs
The Reclaim Meter is a planning estimate from stated volume. Monthly customer statements are built differently: every inbound trailer is weighed at our scale house, every outbound stream is weighed, and the two are reconciled. Reporting is by destination — reuse, repair, harvest, remanufacture, fibre, licensed disposal — in tons, with the diversion rate calculated from those weights rather than from piece counts.
That is the figure to put in an ESG disclosure. It is auditable because it rests on weighbridge tickets, and we will supply the underlying tickets on request rather than only the summary.
Corrections
If you believe a constant above is wrong, tell us. We have changed two of them since first publishing this page in 2021 — the board-feet-per-tree figure was revised downward after a customer’s forestry consultant made a persuasive case, and the steel figure was revised upward after we started weighing our own bales instead of using a published average. Both changes made our headline numbers smaller.
Revision history
Published in full, because a methodology that has never changed is probably not being checked by anybody. Two of the three revisions made our own numbers smaller.
| Date | What changed | From | To | Effect on our figures |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | First publication of all constants | — | — | Baseline |
| 2023 | Board feet per sawlog tree | 250 bf | 200 bf | Tree-equivalent figures reduced ~20% |
| 2024 | Avoided-manufacture term made conditional | Applied always | Only where reuse replaces a purchase | Reduced for diversion-only cases |
| 2025 | Steel per pallet, after weighing our own bales | 1.6 lb | 2.0 lb | Ferrous recovery figures increased ~25% |
| 2026 | Yard operations exclusion stated explicitly | Unstated | Stated as a known omission | No numeric change; disclosure improved |
How this compares with how the industry usually reports
| Practice | Common in the industry | What we do | Effect on the headline |
|---|---|---|---|
| Basis of measurement | Piece count | Weight, from weighbridge tickets | Ours is lower — heavy material skews to disposal |
| Carbon per reuse | Full embodied carbon, every trip | Retention plus one avoided manufacture | Ours is substantially lower |
| Avoided manufacture | Applied universally | Only where reuse replaces a purchase | Ours is lower in diversion-only cases |
| Streams reported | Collapsed into "recycled" | Six streams separated | Ours looks more complicated and is more useful |
| Contaminated material | Excluded from the denominator | Named and weighed | Ours is lower |
| Transport | Usually omitted silently | Omitted, and stated as omitted | Same number, honest label |
| Yard operations | Usually omitted silently | Omitted, and stated as omitted | Same number, honest label |
| Underlying tickets | Rarely available | Supplied on request | No effect on the number; large effect on whether it means anything |
The pattern is that almost every methodological choice we have made produces a smaller headline figure than the common practice would. That is not modesty — it is that a number which survives an auditor is worth more than a number which impresses a brochure reader.