Empty tote recycling in the District of Columbia

Where the District’s totes come from

The DC Office of Planning counts the District’s production, distribution and repair land at 5.2% of the city and about 4% of the Washington region’s 195.7 million square feet of that kind of space. Government and utility users own or operate 1,124 of the acres, which is 62% of the total. Private businesses use the other 701.

Construction is the largest private user by a wide margin, which is why this page leans toward yards and shops: admixtures, fuel additives, fluids and cleaners arrive in totes and leave empty. The construction and utility yards page lists the usual last contents.

Why the sites are few and spread out

The same report shows employment in transportation and warehousing falling from 5,277 in 2012 to 3,828 in 2020, and wholesale trade from 4,492 to 3,431. The Office of Planning also expects very few new wholesale jobs in the District, because most of the city’s wholesale demand is met from nearby jurisdictions.

Fewer big dock operations means more small yards, depots and contractor lots. A request from one of these places is often three or four totes, not a trailer load, and it helps to say so plainly.

Rail, the Red Line and Ward 5

Most of the District’s industrial land is in Ward 5, close to railroad facilities, Metro’s Red Line corridor and New York Avenue NE. That clusters sites in a narrow band, so the totes on one block are often in the same condition and the same state of paperwork as the totes on the next.

The New York Avenue NE page covers the three-mile corridor on its own, including what a yard there should tell us.

The agency and the rule

A District facility that generates hazardous waste, universal waste or used oil needs an EPA identification number from DOEE’s Hazardous Waste Branch. The three rulebooks sets DOEE next to Maryland’s MDE and Virginia DEQ. The federal empty rule in 40 CFR 261.7 still decides whether a tote counts as empty, so a tote with more than an inch of residue stays with a licensed hauler.

Run the Empty Check on a tote before you ask about it. Sites in 20002, 20018 and 20019 and the other District postal codes use the same form as everyone else.

What a depot or yard should send

A District request often comes from a depot or works yard where the writer is a facilities supervisor, not an EHS lead. The most useful attachments are a photograph of the label, the tote count and a note on how the totes can be lifted, because a depot may have a forklift but no dock.

Private construction yards keep totes outdoors. Read the guide to storing empties outside before they sit through a season.

What a District request tends to look like

Because so much of the land is government and utility land, a District request often comes from a depot or a works yard, where the person writing is a facilities supervisor rather than an EHS lead. The most useful thing such a sender can attach is a photograph of the label and a note of how the tote can be lifted, because a depot may have a forklift but no dock.

Private construction yards, the biggest private user at 266 acres, usually keep totes outdoors. That makes the staging advice on storing empties outside the page to read before writing.

The Red Line and the rail

The Office of Planning places most PDR land near railroad facilities, Metro’s Red Line corridor and New York Avenue NE. For tote work this clusters sites in a narrow band of Ward 5, so a trip to one is often a trip past several. It is the kind of geography that makes a small batch worth asking about, though we name no minimum.

Reading the acreage

The 1,825 acres of production, distribution and repair land are split between government and utility users (1,124 acres) and private businesses (701 acres). A request from a government or utility yard and a request from a private yard may be handled very differently, so say which one you are.

A word on the District’s size

The District covers a small area, so a site is rarely far from the next one. That makes a combined visit practical in principle, though no schedule has been set and none is promised.

Questions a District yard gets asked

Who owns the totes, the agency or a contractor? Is the yard fenced, and can a truck turn inside it? Are the totes stacked or standing singly? Utility and government sites tend to have gate procedures, badge checks and set hours, so name them in the request.

Agency contact points

DOEE’s Hazardous Waste Branch issues generator identification numbers, so a District site that is unsure of its category starts there. Keep the number on hand when you write, together with the name of the person who signs the waste forms.

Cities under Washington, DC

• New York Avenue NENew York Avenue NE runs three miles of warehousing, utility and service jobs in Ward 5. See what the yards empty and how totes are graded.