Industry
Coatings and plastics: empty IBC totes
Warren County’s largest employers include Axalta Coatings Systems and Toray Plastics of America. Resins, pigments and additives arrive in totes, and they are the hardest to wash out.
- Usual last contents
- Resins, additives, pigments
- Usual grades
- Dirty, damaged, recycle
- Where in the metro
- Warren County and Front Royal
- Named employers
- Axalta, Toray Plastics of America
Why these totes are hard
Resins and coatings cure. A tote with a film of cured resin inside is not washed out by flushing, and its heel is not liquid. That is why a coatings tote with a heel is graded dirty, and why a tote the wash line cannot lift goes to recycling instead.
The bottle is HDPE and can be ground into regrind. The cage is galvanized steel and goes to steel recycling or to a rebottler.
The Warren County employers
Virginia Works lists Axalta Coatings Systems and Toray Plastics of America among the county’s 50 largest employers for the third quarter of 2025. The Warren County page and the Front Royal page have the rest.
Grading a resin tote
- Read the SDS for the resin.
- Measure the heel.
- Look for cured film on the bottle wall.
- Check the cage for splatter and bent tubes.
How a tote’s HDPE is recycled explains what the regrind line accepts.
EHS questions
Does the resin count as a hazardous waste? Is it acute? Who is the generator? Those are the three that move a request.
The chemistry that fights the wash
A coating is a film-forming liquid, and a resin is a polymer waiting to cure. Both are designed to stick. A tote that held one will keep a film on the wall, around the valve and in the dip tube. Curing speeds the problem: leave it open and the film hardens.
Plastics plants buy additives, plasticizers and masterbatch carriers. Some are liquids in totes. Some are solids in bags or bulk boxes. Only the liquid ones concern a tote recycler.
A grading ladder
| Condition | What it means | Likely grade |
|---|---|---|
| Liquid heel, fresh | Product has not cured | Drain and wash |
| Film on wall, soft | Residue still washable | Rinsed, perhaps |
| Cured film | Cannot be removed by the wash | Regrind and steel |
| Resin in the valve | Mechanical clearing needed | Valve replaced or tote scrapped |
Closing the cap quickly
A practical point that saves a grade: close the fill cap and the valve once the tote is empty, and keep the tote out of the sun. A tote closed while the film is still soft can often be washed. A tote left open overnight often cannot.
Questions people ask
Can a resin tote be reused?
For the same resin, sometimes. For anything else, rarely. The SDS and the condition of the wall decide.
Does the steel cage still recycle?
Yes. If the cage is straight and free of splatter, it can be rebottled or sent for steel.
Who in Warren County makes coatings?
Axalta Coatings Systems is on the county’s list of 50 largest employers. We say nothing about its totes.
Keep reading
- Recycling HDPEHDPE resin code 2: how a tote bottle is shredded, washed and turned into regrind, and what keeps a bottle out of recycling.
- Dirty (heel left)A dirty tote still holds visible product or a heel pumping did not remove. See why it goes to washing or recycling, not reuse.
- Damaged totesA cracked bottle or bent cage is not the end. How a damaged tote is rebottled, or its HDPE regrind and galvanized steel are recycled.
Sources
- Warren County top employers (Virginia Works)
- 40 CFR 261.7, Residues of hazardous waste in empty containers (Cornell LII)
Last reviewed . General guidance, not legal advice.