IBC totes in Philadelphia: post the totes you have or the totes you need
Post the totes you have or the totes you need. We match them across the Delaware Valley. One ticket, two halves: sellers on the left, buyers on the right, and the desk reads both against size, grade, last contents and retest date.
The ticket
HAVE SELL
Plants, blenders and farms with empties on a pad. Post the bottle, the cage, the last contents and the count.
- Rebottled 275 and 330New bottle, used certified cage→
- Reconditioned 275 and 330Cleaned, inspected, tested→
- Rinsed and triple-rinsedOriginal bottle, flushed inside→
- Used, as-isPumped out, not washed→
- Dirty, with a heelGoes to a washer or recycler→
- DamagedCracked bottle or bent cage→
NEED BUY
Blenders, growers and gardeners who need a tote for a job. Say the grade, the job and the ZIP.
- Chemical refillsCurrent retest date, repeat fills→
- Farm and nursery waterFood-grade history on the ticket→
- Rainwater for a rowhouseOne tote, one downspout→
- Drum swapsFive or six drums become one tote→
- TruckloadsFull or part trailers of one grade→
- Food-grade historyDocumented, not assumed→
01 What Continue does
It carries the ticket
The side, the size, the grade, the count and the ZIP you set above travel to the request page and land in its note box. Nothing is sent until you press submit there.
The desk reads it
Someone on the desk reads the ticket against what the other side has posted: size first, then grade, last contents, and the retest date on the plate.
The trade stays near
A Pennsylvania seller and a New Jersey buyer is a normal match here. The ticket records which state's rules apply to the empties and the move.
Prefer to write it all out? Open the full request page. Not sure which side you are on? The questions page answers the common ones first.
02 The grade ladder
Eight bottles, from new to damaged. The dashed line in each is the heel: the product still sitting at the bottom of the bottle. Tap one for the buy and sell pages for that grade.
- 01NewAny fill the plate allows
- 02RebottledRepeat chemical fills
- 03ReconditionedChemical or water, after inspection
- 04RinsedWater and non-food use
- 05Triple-rinsedRCRA-clean empties
- 06Used, as-isSame-product reuse or washing
- 07DirtyWasher or recycler
- 08DamagedParts and scrap
The difference between the two grades most buyers ask about is on one page: rebottled or reconditioned.
03 What the desk asks a seller
- Last contents. What the tote held before decides whether it can go back into chemical service, food or water use, or only to a washer or recycler.
- The SDS. The safety data sheet for those contents tells the desk what rinse the tote needs and who can take it. Hazardous or unknown contents go to a general inquiry first, never straight to a promised pickup.
- Rinse state. Pumped out, rinsed, triple-rinsed or washed. An acute hazardous last content needs a triple rinse before the tote counts as empty under RCRA.
- Count by size. How many 275s, how many 330s, and what grade each is. A mixed pad is fine. Say so.
The longer version is what to tell us about your totes, and the pad-sized version is pad clearing.
04 Read the plate
Every caged tote carries a UN plate on its cage. Five marks on it decide most of a trade.
- UN symbol and design code. 31HA1 is a composite IBC: a plastic inner receptacle in a steel outer frame. The letter after the slash is the packing group the design is rated for (X, Y or Z).
- Month and year of manufacture. The clock for the 2.5-year leakproofness test starts here, or at the last repair.
- Stacking test load. Hatched on purpose: this site states no figure. It is on the plate, in kilograms, and the plate wins over any website.
- Maximum permissible gross mass. Tote, contents and fittings together. Also left hatched here.
- Last leakproofness test and inspection. Composite and rigid plastic IBCs carry the month and year of the last test. This is the date the retest date checker asks for.
05 Across the river
The metro sits in three states. Empties pile up on one bank and buyers sit on the other, so the desk works both. Counties below, each with its own page.
West bank
Pennsylvania- Chester CountyThe mushroom belt, Exton pharma and Coatesville steel.
- Montgomery County, PAPharma campuses, specialty chemicals and the Schuylkill corridor.
- Bucks CountyBristol and Falls Township polymers, Bensalem food plants and farms.
- Delaware County, PATrainer, Marcus Hook, Chester and the Eddystone-to-Ridley riverfront.
- Philadelphia CountyThe port, the Navy Yard, Northeast food plants and rowhouse roofs.
- New Castle County, DEDelaware City refining, the Port of Wilmington and Newark labs.
East bank
New Jersey- Burlington County, NJRiver towns, logistics parks and farms along the Delaware and the Pine Barrens edge.
- Camden County, NJCamden food plants, Pennsauken distribution and the Gloucester City terminal.
- Gloucester County, NJPureland cold storage, Paulsboro refining and Swedesboro farms.
- Salem County, NJDeepwater chemicals, the Delaware Memorial Bridge approach and flat farmland.
All ten counties and the 23 districts under them are listed on the areas page. Looking by trade instead? Refineries, chemical plants, food makers, growers and gardens each have a page.
06 Three states, three rulebooks
| State | Agency | Desk counties |
|---|---|---|
| Pennsylvania | Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) | Philadelphia, Delaware, Montgomery, Bucks, Chester |
| New Jersey | Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP) | Burlington, Camden, Gloucester, Salem |
| Delaware | Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control (DNREC) | New Castle |
The desk does not give legal advice and takes empties, never waste. Read the three-state guide and the RCRA empty guide, then ask your own agency or hauler about your own tote.
07 Drums to totes
A 275 gallon tote holds what five 55 gallon drums hold. A 330 gallon tote holds six. Five drums take 1.25 pallets and six take 1.5, so a plant moving a liquid off drums frees floor positions as well as handling time.
Both sizes share one 48 by 40 inch footprint, 13.3 square feet. Five drums on 1.25 pallets cover about 16.6 square feet of floor (1.25 × 13.3); the 275 covers 13.3.
| Tote | Drums replaced | Pallets of drums |
|---|---|---|
| 275 gallon | 5 | 1.25 |
| 330 gallon | 6 | 1.5 |
08 A tote on a rowhouse
One inch of rain on 1,000 square feet of roof collects about 600 gallons, per UF/IFAS. Try your own roof. Stored rainwater is for the garden, not for drinking.
480 gal
800 sq ft × 1 in × 0.6 gal per sq ft per inch = 480 gallons, or 1.7 of a 275 gallon tote.
Philadelphia's combined sewers serve about 60 percent of the city, which is why the Water Department's Rain Check program hands out free rain barrels after a workshop. A 275 gallon tote takes over where a 55 gallon barrel overflows. The rowhouse rainwater guide covers the setup.
09 Post the ticket
Read everything first? Fine. The ticket is here when you are ready: HAVE or NEED, then the size, the grade, how many and where.