What makes a used tote worth reselling

The five checks

1. Intact bottle. No cracks, crazing or punctures, and no stain that suggests an unwashable product.
2. Sound cage and pallet. Straight tubes, solid welds, a pallet a forklift can lift.
3. A valve that seals. No weeping, no cracked handle.
4. Known last contents. The label or the SDS says what it held.
5. Current dates. The leakproofness and inspection dates on the plate are within the cycle.

A tote that fails one of the five can often still be fixed. A bad valve is replaced. A lapsed date is a retest. A cracked bottle in a good cage is a rebottling job.

Why the dates matter

Under 49 CFR 180.352 an IBC for liquids must pass a leakproofness test every 2.5 years from manufacture or repair, and an external visual inspection on the same cycle. Metal, rigid plastic and composite IBCs also need an internal inspection at least every five years. The dates are on the plate.

A tote with lapsed dates is not scrap. It needs the test before it carries a regulated product. Reading the plate shows where each date is.

What makes a tote scrap

• Last contents unknown, or a product the wash line cannot lift.
• A bottle past its useful life, chalked and crazed.
• A cage with bent tubes, cracked welds or rust through.
• Not RCRA empty. That is not scrap; it is waste.

Scrap still has a use: the bottle becomes regrind and the cage becomes steel. But a tote sold for scrap is paid for as parts, and we have set no price.

Where to go next

Run the Empty Check and read the grades. If a tote is food-only, see selling food-grade totes. If it held a chemical, see chemical empties. Then send the sell request.

Why the label stays on

The label is the cheapest piece of history a tote carries. It names the product, the supplier and sometimes the batch. Removing it destroys the one thing a buyer can check. If a label is peeling, photograph it and leave it on.