Origin of Plastic Pallets Is Sketchy

The origin of plastic pallets is sketchy. Hartson Poland of PDQ Plastics believes they probably first emerged out of plastic molding shops serving the automotive industry in the years after World War II.

Thumbing through back issues of Modern Material Handling magazine, the earliest reference appeared to be in a 1964 issue that described a fiberglass reinforced plastic pallet container. Plastic pallet production became more widespread in the late 1960s and early 1970s with the entrance of companies such as PDQ Plastics, Engineered Polymers Corporation, Armin Thermodynamics, Menasha (Orbis) and Horizon Plastics.