Reuse ledger, year to date: 41,200 totes diverted from Texas landfills this year. 2,060k lb of HDPE kept in service. 1,772k lb of steel cage recovered. 3,140 tons of CO₂e avoided. 92% of our wash water recycled on site. 68 Texas counties served from one Austin yard. Full methodology at /sustainability/reuse-ledger.

Industry · Chemical & Industrial

The paperwork matters as much as the plastic.

The Gulf Coast is the densest chemical manufacturing corridor in North America, and totes are its default 250-gallon package. That also makes it the largest source of recoverable totes in the country.

IBC totes staged on a port terminal apron beside stacked shipping containers and gantry cranes

The short answer

Chemical packers need three things from a used tote: a valid UN 31HA1 marking with a current retest, a bottle with no chemical memory from prior contents, and a cage that will survive the supply chain. Rebottled units satisfy all three at roughly 55–65% of new-unit cost.

From the yard

Warehouse interior with double-stacked IBC totes carrying hazard placards on steel racking — Indoor racking. Chemical-service units stay under cover and stay physically separated.

Close-up of a single 275 gallon IBC tote showing its capacity label, UN placard and blue ball valve — A 275 with the plate, the capacity label and a standard 2-inch ball valve.

31HA1 / Y, composite IBC for liquids

UN marking

Every 2.5 years

Leakproofness retest

Every 5 years

Full requalification

Typically 55–65%

Rebottled cost vs new

Our chemical-sector work is mostly rebottling and fleet management: we take your returning empties, evaluate the cage and pallet, fit a new bottle where the old one has absorbed product, requalify, and send the unit back into your program.

Applications

What chemical & industrial actually does with them

Specific uses, with the details that decide whether a tote works well or badly for each one.

Packaging & filling operations

Blenders filling 250-gallon orders need a consistent, compliant package. Rebottled totes deliver visual consistency and a fresh bottle without new-unit lead times.

Solvent & aggressive chemistry

Ketones, aromatics and chlorinated solvents permeate and swell HDPE. These units cannot be returned to service; we recover them for material recycling and supply rebottled replacements.

Acid & caustic distribution

Sulfuric, hydrochloric, sodium hydroxide and hypochlorite are the highest-volume tote chemicals in Texas. Seal specification is the whole game — we stock EPDM, Viton and PTFE-faced options.

Fleet requalification

UN-marked IBCs need leakproofness testing every 2.5 years and full requalification every 5. We coordinate testing so your fleet does not quietly age out of compliance.

Reverse logistics

Getting empties back from customers is the hardest part of a tote program. Our management service handles collection, wash, inspection and redeployment on a scheduled cycle.

Recommended

What we'd put on the quote

Starting points. Tell us the specifics and we'll adjust.

Rebottling Service
New bottle, evaluated cage, restored compliance.
UN Markings Explained
Decode the plate line by line.
Tote Management Program
Closed-loop collection, wash and redeployment.

Compliance

What the rules expect

49 CFR 178.801 governs IBC design qualification; 49 CFR 180.352 governs periodic retest and repair.
Only a registered reconditioner may restore a UN marking. Ask any seller for their registration before you buy 'UN-rated' used stock.
Chemical compatibility is your responsibility as the offeror — we supply data, not sign-off.

Specification

Typical spec sheet

What a chemical & industrial order usually looks like when it leaves the yard.

Typical Chemical & Industrial configuration
Attribute	Typical specification
UN marking	31HA1 / Y, composite IBC for liquids
Leakproofness retest	Every 2.5 years
Full requalification	Every 5 years
Rebottled cost vs new	Typically 55–65%

Where the money goes wrong in this sector

The two failure modes are always the same: paying for documentation you do not need, or assuming documentation exists when it does not. In chemical & industrial, chemical packers need three things from a used tote: a valid un 31ha1 marking with a current retest, a bottle with no chemical memory from prior contents, and a cage that will survive the supply chain — that sentence is the whole shortcut.

If you are unsure which side of that line your application sits on, describe it in the form. We will tell you the cheaper option when the cheaper option is genuinely adequate, because the alternative — selling you the expensive one every time — is a business model that only works once per customer.

Chemical & Industrial questions

+Does a used tote keep its UN rating?

Only if it was reconditioned by a registered facility, passed the required tests, and is inside its retest window. A UN plate on a rusty cage from an unknown yard means nothing.

+Why rebottle instead of buying new?

The cage, pallet and hardware account for the majority of an IBC's embodied energy and roughly half its cost. Replacing only the bottle gives you a functionally new package for a fraction of the price and carbon.

+Can you handle our returns program?

That is what the Tote Management Program is. We collect from your customer sites, wash to your specified standard, inspect, and return serviceable units to your fill line on an agreed cycle.

Other sectors

Not quite your industry?

Quick reference

Numbers worth having open in another tab

The figures that come up in almost every conversation, whichever page you arrived on.

275 gallon · 1040 L

48×40×46

Tare: 130 lb
Gross, water: 2,425 lb
Stack full: 2 high
Stock: Always in stock

330 gallon · 1250 L

48×40×53

Tare: 160 lb
Gross, water: 2,915 lb
Stack full: 2 high
Stock: Always in stock

264 gallon · 1000 L

48×40×46

Tare: 125 lb
Gross, water: 2,325 lb
Stack full: 2 high
Stock: Usually in stock

350 gallon · 1325 L

48×40×56

Tare: 175 lb
Gross, water: 3,095 lb
Stack full: 2 high
Stock: Order in

Outlet thread

S60x6 — 60 mm coarse buttress. Not 2" NPT.

Grades published

N, R, F, A, B, C, X — applied at the wash bay.

Wash standards

W1 rinse through W4 caustic CIP at 160°F.

UN retest

Leakproofness 2.5 yrs, requalification 5 yrs.

From the yard notes

Longer reading on this

32 articles written by the people who wash, grade, weld and dispatch. No marketing copy in any of them.

All 32 articles

On the yard this week

While you're here

Pulled from the full FAQ, which runs to forty-plus answers across buying, grades, food safety, sizes, selling, compliance, delivery and care.

Read the full FAQ

Where we are: 3505 Montopolis Dr, Austin, TX 78744
Yard hours: Mon–Thu 7:30a–5p · Fri 7:30a–4p · Sat 8a–12p · Sun closed (Central Time)
Email: sales@ibctotestexas.com
Coverage: 68 Texas counties on scheduled routes, from one Austin yard.

+Will you take totes that held chemicals?

Most of them, with the prior contents in writing. Some chemistries permanently permeate HDPE; those units go to material recovery rather than back into service, but we'll still take them off your yard.

+Cash or credit?

Either. Credit against future purchases is typically worth more per unit, which suits operations that buy and return continuously.

+Is a 275 gallon tote the same as 1,000 litres?

No. 1,000 litres is 264 US gallons. Many sellers round it up to 275; we list both figures because eleven gallons matters if you batch to a recipe.

+Are your totes NSF certified?

The resin in new and rebottled bottles meets FDA 21 CFR 177.1520. Container-level NSF/ANSI 61 certification is a manufacturer programme that does not carry over to reconditioned units. If your specification cites it, you need new containers and we'll tell you so.

+Are stained totes a problem?

Cosmetically yes, functionally usually not. Staining is a strong signal about prior contents, which is why stained units drop a grade, but a stained bottle holds liquid exactly as well as a clear one. It does make the level strip harder to read.

Send a chemical & industrial request.

Application, volume and destination. You'll have a written price, a grade recommendation and a delivery date the same business day.

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