Request a pickup for empty IBC totes

The checklist before you ask

1. The heel is an inch or less. Measure it, or run the Empty Check.
2. Caps and valve closed. Tight, with the vent clear.
3. Old label on. It names the last contents.
4. SDS to hand. For the last product in the tote.
5. Cage and pallet sound. Straight tubes, no cracks at the welds.
6. Access noted. A loading dock, a forklift, a pallet jack or ground level only.

The pickup-ready guide explains why each item matters, and the Empty Check will print the ticket and put it in the request for you.

What the request asks

The form asks for the basics first: what you need, how many totes, the ZIP code, your name and phone and email. Anything else is optional. Use the message box for the last contents, the tote size if it is not 275 or 330 gallons, and how the totes are loaded.

If you ran the Empty Check, its ticket fills the message box. If the tote is not empty, do not send a request: it needs a licensed hazardous-waste hauler. If the totes are damaged, say which part, because the cage and the bottle go different ways.

What we do with it

We read the request, check the size and last contents against what a recycler can take, and answer by email. The answer says which lane the totes fall into and what is needed next. It does not promise a price, a minimum or a date, because none of those has been set.

If the site is in Loudoun or Prince William County, say so. Nobody has confirmed a pickup in either one yet, and the Loudoun page and the Prince William page explain what we can say now.

What we cannot take

• A tote with more than an inch of residue that cannot be drained. That is not an empty container.
• A tote that held an acute hazardous waste and has not been triple rinsed.
• Anything that is not a 275 or 330 gallon IBC tote without a conversation first.

These go to a licensed hazardous-waste hauler. Check with your hauler and with DOEE, MDE or Virginia DEQ before anything ships.

Three example messages

These are illustrations of how much detail helps, not requests from real sites.

• A facilities team: twelve 275 gallon totes, last held glycol-based coolant, SDS attached, heels under an inch, cages straight, ground-level access with a forklift.
• A laboratory: four 330 gallon totes that held a buffer concentrate, labels on, heels measured at half an inch, loading dock with a pallet jack.
• A brewery: six 275 gallon totes that held a syrup ingredient, never any cleaner, plates dated, stored indoors.

Each one answers the same questions in a different order: how many, what size, what it last held, how empty it is and how it can be reached.

A mixed run

If the totes differ in size or in what they held, send a short tally instead of one line: size, count and last contents on each row. Totes that held different products are graded separately, so a tally lets the answer sort them rather than ask you to.

What happens after you send it

A request goes to our inbox through 1DB’s form. We read it, grade it from what you wrote and reply by email with the lane the totes fall into and what is needed next. If you wrote nothing about the last contents, the reply asks. If the heel is over the limit, the reply says so and sends you to a hauler.

Why the access note matters

A loading dock, a forklift and a pallet jack each change what can be done on a visit. A 275 gallon tote weighs about 135 pounds empty and sits on a 48 by 40 inch base, which a pallet jack handles and two people on bare ground do not. Say whether the totes are stacked, whether a gate is locked and whether anything blocks the aisle.

A photograph of the area, with a tote in the frame for scale, answers more questions than a paragraph does. Leave the labels visible in it.

After the answer comes back

A reply names a lane for each group of totes and says what is still needed. It may ask for the SDS, a photograph of the plate, or a heel measurement. It may also say that a group of totes belongs with a licensed hazardous-waste hauler instead. Answer the follow-up in the same email thread so the first request stays attached to it.

Totes that are accepted into a lane are described on the grades page. A site that is not sure whether its totes are empty should run the Empty Check before writing at all.

If the totes are not in one place

Sites that keep totes in several buildings or yards should say so and give each location its own line with its own count. A request that blends three locations into one tally makes it hard to say whether a visit would work. Separate requests for separate addresses are welcome, and they are read in the order they arrive.

Attachments that help

Attach a photograph of the label, the plate and the heel against a ruler, plus the SDS as a PDF if you have one. Name the files by what they show, such as label, plate and heel, so that nobody has to guess which is which. If the label is faded, photograph it in raking light, and add a line giving the supplier’s name and any lot number you can still read. A tote whose plate is missing should be listed as such, with its size, since the size then rests on your measurement of the cage. Keep each file small enough to send by email, ideally under a few megabytes, and say how many totes each photograph covers when one stands for a row.