Sell your used IBC totes

What makes a tote sellable

A buyer needs a tote that can carry a product again, or one that can be taken apart for its parts. Both start with the same four facts: the bottle, the cage, the last contents and the retest dates. What makes a used tote resellable walks through them. A tote with a known food-only history is the one a grower or brewer can use directly.

The grade explainer

Three kinds of seller

Food and beverage plants usually have totes with a documented food history, which is the most useful kind. Selling food-grade-history totes says how to keep that history intact.

EHS and facilities teams with chemical totes start with RCRA empty, then the SDS and the label. Selling totes that held chemicals lays out the order.

Anyone with a mixed run can start with the Empty Check and the grade table above.

What we promise, and what we do not

We grade what you send, and we say whether the totes are a fit. We have not set a price, a minimum quantity or a pickup date, and the site names none. We do not take totes that are not empty.

If you are in Loudoun or Prince William County, send the request anyway. We will say whether a pickup reaches you.

What a buyer looks at first

A buyer asks three things before anything else: what the tote held, whether it is empty under 40 CFR 261.7, and whether the bottle and cage are intact. Everything else, including the plate dates and the valve, comes after those three.

A tote with a food-only history sells to the widest group of buyers, because growers and brewers can use it directly. A chemical tote narrows the field to reconditioners, rebottlers and recyclers, and its paperwork is the SDS. Reading the last contents explains how to find and name it.

Documents to gather

• The label or a photograph of it, showing the last product and the supplier.
• The SDS for that product, printed or as a file.
• The plate dates, which show whether the leakproofness and inspection cycle is current.
• A note on the cage, the pallet and the valve.

None of these carries a price or a promise. They let a grade be assigned from facts.

How a request is read

We read three things first: what the tote held, how it was emptied and how it can be moved. The count and the size follow. The grade comes from the first two. A request that leaves the first blank gets a question back, not a quote, because we name no price and could not stand behind one.

Seller questions that come up often

Does the tote need to be washed first? No. A rinse that is not documented does not raise its grade, and it can hide the history a buyer wants. Does a missing label end the sale? It makes the grade harder to assign, because the last contents then rest on your word. Does a bent cage matter? It moves the tote toward rebottling or steel, and a cracked bottle moves it toward regrind.

The damaged grade and the dirty grade describe what each defect costs a tote.

Mixed loads and honest labels

A pallet row of totes often holds more than one product, and the only way to sell them is to separate them in the description. Write each row as its own line: the product, the size, the count and the condition. Do not combine a food-history row with a chemical row on one line, even if they stand side by side in the yard. Buyers of one kind will not want the other, and a mixed description gets slower answers.

Honest labels also protect the seller. If the old label has been torn away, say so, and say how you know what the tote held. A claim you cannot document is better left out than guessed.

Photographs that help

Four photographs describe most totes: the whole tote from the side, the label up close, the plate up close, and the interior through the fill cap with a ruler or rod beside the heel. A fifth showing the valve end is useful when the valve looks stiff or damaged. Plain daylight beats a flash, and a hand or a coin in the frame gives scale.

What happens to a graded tote

The grade says what a tote is, and a tote graded for reuse is matched to a buyer who needs that kind. A tote graded for recycling goes to the parts markets, the bottle as regrind and the cage as steel.

Expectations on timing

No turnaround time has been set for a reply, a pickup or a payment, so plan your yard accordingly. Totes waiting for an answer should stay where they are, covered and labelled, and not be moved or washed in the meantime.

In this section

• Food-grade emptiesBreweries, distilleries and food plants: how to keep a tote's food-grade history intact so it can be sold for food or water use.
• Chemical emptiesTotes that held glycol, biocides, reagents or coatings: what is needed before they can be reconditioned, rebottled or recycled.
• What resellsIntact bottle and cage, a sealing valve, a known last contents and a current retest date: what lets a used tote be sold rather than scrapped.