All-plastic IBC totes: specs and recycling

One material

Without a cage, there is nothing to separate. The whole tote is ground, washed and pelletized as HDPE. That makes the last contents and the stain the only questions: an HDPE tote that held a product the wash line cannot lift is not accepted.

Food contact

Polyethylene is on the 21 CFR 177.1520 list of olefin polymers that may be safely used in articles that contact food. The list is about the plastic. A particular tote is food grade only if everything it held was food.

Do we take it

Send the size and the last contents through the pickup request. We do not name a price.

A thicker wall, no frame

The all-plastic tote is rotationally molded, with a wall that Ibctanks.com gives as half an inch thick. The thickness is what stands in for the cage. The tote is self-supporting, so there is no steel to separate and no frame to rebottle.

It also has a different handling profile. Without a cage, a forklift that strikes it hits plastic, and a dent can become a crack. Stack and move with care.

Recycling an all-plastic tote

The whole tote is HDPE, which is a recyclable resin. The recycling route is shredding, washing and pelletizing, and the limit is contamination: a product that soaks into the wall or leaves a stain the wash cannot lift can disqualify a tote.

The HDPE guide describes what a regrind line accepts and what it refuses.

Why this type is rarer here

The totes this site writes about are caged, because the common sizes are the caged 275 and 330. An all-plastic tote is a different product with a different buyer, and we say so rather than stretch the page.

Handling rules

An all-plastic tote has no cage, so a forklift’s tines must be placed carefully. A tine through the wall turns the tote into a leak. In a yard, stack no higher than the manufacturer says and keep the caps closed to keep rain out.

Why the wall thickness matters to recyclers

A half-inch wall means plenty of material for regrind. It also means the tote is heavy for its size, and a bottle that soaked up a product holds it in the wall. Both factors affect whether a recycler accepts one.