Check a tote's retest date

01What the checker assumes

It assumes a rigid plastic or composite IBC for liquids, the common caged tote with an HDPE bottle inside a steel cage. Under 49 CFR 180.352, an IBC for liquids has to pass a leakproofness test every 2.5 years from the date of manufacture or repair. The same section calls for an external visual inspection after production and every 2.5 years, and for metal, rigid plastic and composite IBCs an internal inspection at least every five years.

The checker counts in whole months. It adds 30 months to the last test you enter and 60 months to the last internal inspection, or to the manufacture date when no inspection is marked. A tote shows as due soon in the six months before either date and as out of date after it.

The checker states no stacking load and no maximum gross mass. Both are on the UN plate in kilograms. Read them there.

02Where the dates are on the plate

Composite and rigid plastic IBCs must be marked with the month and year of the last leakproofness test and the last inspection (49 CFR 178.703(b)). The month and year of manufacture sits with the UN marks themselves. If the stamps are worn, painted over or unreadable, do not guess: post the ticket with the retest answer set to Not sure and say so.

03What a result means for a trade

A current tote can go back into hazmat liquid service. A tote that is out of date is not scrap. It can be retested, reconditioned or rebottled, or it can serve a use that does not need the date, such as rainwater. The ticket should say which of those the seller expects.

For a buyer, the date decides how long a repeat fill can run before the next test. A blender who refills every few weeks wants a tote with years left on the 30 months. A gardener catching roof runoff usually does not care, and the retest question on the ticket has an answer for that: Doesn’t matter for my use.

• Current: both dates are more than six months away.
• Current, due soon: one of the dates falls inside six months. Say so on the ticket.
• Out of date: a date has passed. The tote needs a test or an inspection, or a use that does not require one.

04Send the result to the desk

Sell this tote opens the request page with the side, size, grade and retest status in the note box. Find totes like this does the same from the buying side. Nothing is sent from this page. The request form on the next page is the only place a ticket is posted.

If the tote held something hazardous, the SDS matters as much as the date. The desk asks for it before anything moves, and an acute hazardous last content needs a triple rinse before the tote counts as RCRA empty. The guide on retest dates and a tote’s working life covers what happens to a tote after its date runs out.

05Post the ticket

+More in Home

• Retest datesThe 2.5-year leakproofness test, the 5-year internal inspection, and what an out-of-date tote is still good for.
• Reading the UN plateEvery mark on an IBC's UN plate explained: 31HA1, packing group letter, manufacture date, stacking test load and maximum gross mass.
• ReconditionedUsed bottle and cage, cleaned, inspected and tested for reuse.
• Back to the home page