Service
Clearing empty totes from a dock, yard or lab
When a dock, chiller yard or lab has a run of empty totes and little room, count them by size and last contents, grade them, stage them where a forklift can reach them, and send one request for the whole run.
Count by size and by last contents
A run of totes is rarely uniform. A water-treatment yard may hold a dozen glycol totes, a few biocide totes and a pair that held something nobody remembers. Count each group on its own line: how many, which size, what they last held.
| Size | Last contents | How many | Heel measured | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 275 gallon | Glycol | — | — | Cage straight |
| 275 gallon | Biocide | — | — | Label legible |
| 330 gallon | Unknown | — | — | Label missing |
Each line is a different decision. Glycol and biocide totes that are RCRA empty go to reconditioning or recycling. A tote with an unknown last product is recycle only.
Grade them where they stand
Walk the row once with the grade list in hand. Intact bottle, sealing valve, straight cage: a candidate for reuse or reconditioning. Cracked bottle: a rebottling candidate if the cage is sound. Bent cage and cracked bottle: steel and regrind. Heel above an inch: not empty yet.
Mark each tote with tape on the cage: the grade, the heel, the date. That one pass saves a second visit.
Stage for the forklift
Stand totes in rows on level ground with fill caps toward the aisle and a clear lane on one side. Empty caged totes can be stacked three high, according to Container Exchanger, and four high according to the IBC specifications page, when they are empty. Follow your own site rule, and never stack a tote that is not empty. See storing empties outside for how to keep rain out while they wait.
- Row the totes by grade, not by arrival date.
- Keep the label side out.
- Leave a pallet-jack lane if no forklift is on site.
- Keep damaged totes together so a bent cage does not tip a good one.
One request for the run
Send one pickup request for the run and paste the tally in the message box. Say how the totes are reached. Data-center and campus chiller plants clear their totes in batches, and the data-center cooling page describes what those totes usually held.
If a few totes are not empty, send them to a hauler and send us the rest. We take no request for a tote that is not empty.
Counting a run honestly
Count what is there, not what you hope to clear. A tally with an unknown line is fine; an inflated tally wastes everyone’s time. Mark unknown totes unknown, and say so. Those go to recycling only, and a request that is honest about them gets a faster answer.
Keep reading
- Request a pickupRequest pickup of empty IBC totes in the DC metro. Tell us size, grade, last contents and truck access, and send the SDS if you have it.
- Data-center and campus chiller plantsData-center chiller plants empty glycol, corrosion-inhibitor and biocide totes. See how to read the last contents and which next life fits.
- Storing empties outsideKeeping emptied totes outdoors until pickup: caps on, sun and UV, stacking empties, and keeping rain out of a tote that held chemicals.
Sources
- 40 CFR 261.7, Residues of hazardous waste in empty containers (Cornell LII)
- 330 gallon IBC tote dimensions (Container Exchanger)
- IBC tote specifications (ibctanks.com)
Last reviewed . General guidance, not legal advice.
The request
Request a pickup
Tell us the size, how many and where the totes are. Send the SDS for the last contents if you have it; it decides where each tote goes.
Totes that are not empty need a licensed hazardous-waste hauler. We take no request for those.