IBC totes in Philadelphia County: what the city has and needs
Philadelphia County is both sides of the ticket at once. Port terminals, the Navy Yard and the food plants in the Northeast put out empties, and rowhouse roofs, community gardens and urban farms ask for a tote or two.
01What sits here
The city sits on the Delaware and the Schuylkill. Its port and marine terminals handle wood, steel, containers and breakbulk cargo, and the Philadelphia Navy Yard is a 1,200-acre campus with more than 150 companies. The former refinery site on the Schuylkill in South and Southwest Philadelphia is being rebuilt as the Bellwether District, a logistics, manufacturing and R&D campus. Food processing fills the Northeast, and urban agriculture fills lots in between.
| ZIP codes | Industries here | Agency to ask about empties |
|---|---|---|
| 19112, 19145, 19148, 19153, 19134, 19137, 19124, 19135, 19136, 19114, 19115, 19116, 19154, 19120, 19140, 19146 | port and marine terminals, logistics, life sciences, food processing, urban agriculture | Pennsylvania DEP |
02Who has empties, who needs totes
The city is one of few places where the same page serves a pad and a downspout. A food plant in the Northeast can post a pallet of rinsed 275s that held an ingredient, and a Fishtown homeowner can post a request for one. About 60 percent of Philadelphia is served by combined sewers, so the Water Department pays attention to rain capture, and its Rain Check program gives free rain barrels after a workshop. A 275 gallon tote is the next step up when a barrel overflows.
03Roads, rules and the move
I-95 and I-76 are the spine, with the Walt Whitman, Ben Franklin and Betsy Ross bridges to Camden County and the Tacony-Palmyra Bridge to Burlington County. The agency to ask about an empty container in the city is the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection. Philadelphia districts, South Philadelphia, Port Richmond and the Northeast, have their own pages below.
04Districts in this county
| District | ZIP codes | Industries |
|---|---|---|
| South Philadelphia and the Navy Yard | 19112, 19145, 19148, 19153 | life sciences, logistics, port terminals, shipbuilding |
| Port Richmond and the Tioga waterfront | 19134, 19125, 19137 | marine terminals, forest products, steel, warehousing, food processing |
| Northeast Philadelphia | 19114, 19115, 19116, 19136, 19154, 19135 | food manufacturing, light manufacturing, distribution |
05A ticket from here
- Put one of the ZIP codes from the first table on the ticket.
- For a rowhouse, say the roof size and that the tote is for rainwater. For a plant, say the district and the last contents.
?Questions on this page
Does the desk place totes in Philadelphia?
It matches tickets to and from Philadelphia, including single-tote requests from rowhouses and pads from plants.
Who handles empty containers in the city?
Pennsylvania DEP is the state agency to ask, and your own hauler or counsel for your own case.
→Inside Philadelphia County
Sources
Last reviewed 2026-11-11. Rules change; read the current text before you act on it.