Investigation of the Disposal and Recovery of Wood and Wood Packaging in the United States

For this study, over 200 Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) facilities responded to a survey regarding the wood pallets and packaging they received in 2016. These questions asked respondents to provide the total tonnage of total waste and wood waste landfilled and recovered with additional questions on facility operations and tipping fees. Many respondents also provided additional commentary about how their facilities process wood and wood packaging waste, giving valuable insights to the current state of the market. Over 200 facilities responded to the survey providing direct information on their tonnages and practices. We found that each facility received an average 183,000 tons of MSW waste for a national estimate of 281 million tons of waste generated. Additionally, on average each facility received approximately 17,911 tons of wood, of which 5863 tons were recovered in some way. It was found that 58% of facilities operate a wood and pallet recovery area, which was a significant increase from previous studies.