Recycling totes that can't go back into service

01Where each part goes

02Sorting by grade

The desk sorts by the same eight grades it sells by. Damaged totes go for parts, rebottling of the cage, or recycling of the HDPE and steel. Dirty totes, those that still hold visible product or a heel above what pumping removes, go to washing or recycling, not straight to reuse. A tote that is only out of date is not recycling at all: it needs a test or inspection, and the checker shows which date has passed.

The three states share a federal baseline for what counts as empty, and a tote that is not empty under it is not for the recycling route either. The RCRA empty guide covers that line.

03What to say on a recycling ticket

• What is wrong: cracked bottle, bent cage, broken pallet, a valve that will not seal, or a heel.
• The last contents, and the SDS if there is one.
• The count, and whether it is on a pad or stacked loose.
• The state and ZIP.

A recycling ticket is a request type of its own on the form, so the desk reads it as one.

04What the desk will not take

The desk handles totes, not drums, and takes empties, never waste. Plastic drums, 55 gallon steel drums and liquids are outside what it trades.

05What a recycler wants to see

Recycling is the end of the ladder, and it is a real market. The bottle is rotationally molded polyethylene, and a recycler grinds or melts it; the galvanized steel cage goes to a scrap yard. Neither process needs the bottle to be clean enough for food, but a recycler may still refuse a bottle that held a regulated chemical, so the last contents go on the ticket.

Condition decides the route. A cracked, bulged or weeping bottle drops to the damaged rung, and a rusted-through cage is a scrap job. A bottle with scuffs only can usually be rebottled or reused, and recycling it wastes a sound cage. The desk asks for photographs so a sound cage is not scrapped by default.

Camden and the Route 130 corridor have scrap and recycling yards, as do the river towns of Delaware County. The desk lists where a lot can go in the same state first, since a bridge crossing moves a load into another state’s program.

06Post the ticket

+More in Sell

• DamagedCracked bottle, bent cage or a valve that will not seal; parts and scrap.
• DirtyVisible product or a heel left; goes to washing or recycling.
• Cleaning a toteRinsing, washing and reconditioning compared: what each removes, what it leaves, and when selling the tote beats cleaning it.
• Retest datesThe 2.5-year leakproofness test, the 5-year internal inspection, and what an out-of-date tote is still good for.
• Pad clearingHow the desk takes a pad or warehouse of empty IBC totes off a plant's hands in the Delaware Valley, what must be drained first, and what it won't take.
• What to tell usThe details that let the desk price and place your totes: count by size, grade, last contents, the SDS, rinse state and retest date.
• Drums to totesHow many 55 gallon drums a 275 or 330 gallon tote replaces, the floor space it frees, and how to buy totes and sell the empties in one loop.
• Back to Sell