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 · Food & Beverage

Documented contents or it isn't food grade.

"Food grade" is the most abused phrase in the used-tote business. Plenty of sellers will call a shiny Grade A tote food grade because it looks clean. It isn't, unless somebody wrote down what was in it before.

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

The short answer

A food-grade IBC tote is a unit whose bottle has only ever held edible product, has been washed to a documented standard, and carries an FDA 21 CFR 177.1520 compliant HDPE bottle. For anything entering a human food stream, buy F-grade with intake documentation or buy rebottled — do not buy a general Grade A tote and assume.

From the yard

Wide view of a warehouse hall filled with reconditioned IBC totes on polished concrete — Covered inventory. What you see on the rack is what goes on your truck.

Flatbed trailer loaded with two rows of IBC totes secured with straps, hooked to a blue tractor unit — Twenty on the floor of a 48-foot flatbed. Forty if they're empty.

FDA 21 CFR 177.1520 HDPE

Bottle resin

W4 caustic CIP, 160°F, documented

Wash standard

Prior-contents tag + wash record per unit

Documentation

New bottle in reconditioned cage

Rebottle option

We run a separate intake lane for food product. Totes arriving from syrup houses, juice concentrators, edible oil packers and sweetener distributors are tagged at the gate, kept off the general yard, washed on a dedicated caustic line, and issued a wash record that travels with the unit.

Applications

What food & beverage actually does with them

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

Syrups, concentrates & sweeteners

HFCS, agave, cane syrup and fruit concentrate arrive in totes and leave in totes. Viscous product wants a 2" full-port butterfly valve, not a ball valve, and a tote stored above 70°F so it still pours.

Edible oils

Canola, soybean and used cooking oil collection all run on totes. UCO collectors in particular love our B-grade stock — cheap, robust, and destined for a rendering plant either way.

Sauce, brine & marinade batching

Mid-size sauce producers use totes as batch-and-hold vessels between kettle and filler. Stainless is better; totes are one-tenth the price and can be rebottled between SKUs to eliminate carryover flavor.

Liquid egg, dairy & cold chain

Refrigerated liquid product moves in totes with insulated jackets. We stock 275 and 330 gallon insulated covers rated to hold a 4°C product within 3 degrees across an eight-hour transit.

Recommended

What we'd put on the quote

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

Food Grade IBC Totes
Prior contents documented, caustic washed, records attached.
Rebottled Totes
A virgin HDPE bottle when documentation isn't enough.
Washing & Reconditioning
Send us your fleet between SKUs.

Compliance

What the rules expect

FDA 21 CFR 177.1520 governs the polyethylene resin in contact with food.
FSMA preventive controls require you to document container history — a verbal assurance is not a record.
Allergen carryover is the risk nobody plans for: rebottle rather than wash when switching between allergen and allergen-free product.

Specification

Typical spec sheet

What a food & beverage order usually looks like when it leaves the yard.

Typical Food & Beverage configuration
Attribute	Typical specification
Bottle resin	FDA 21 CFR 177.1520 HDPE
Wash standard	W4 caustic CIP, 160°F, documented
Documentation	Prior-contents tag + wash record per unit
Rebottle option	New bottle in reconditioned cage

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 food & beverage, a food-grade ibc tote is a unit whose bottle has only ever held edible product, has been washed to a documented standard, and carries an fda 21 cfr 177 — 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.

Food & Beverage questions

+What makes a used tote genuinely food grade?

Three things together: an FDA-compliant HDPE bottle, a documented chain of prior contents that were all edible, and a wash record to a defined standard. Missing any one of the three and the honest answer is 'clean, but not food grade.'

+Can you provide a certificate of cleanliness?

Yes. Every F-grade unit ships with a wash record listing the wash standard, water temperature, detergent, date and operator. Ask for it on the quote and it is attached to the BOL.

+Is rebottling cheaper than buying new?

Typically 35–45% cheaper than a new composite IBC, because the cage, pallet and hardware — the steel-intensive part — are reused. It is also considerably lower-carbon: see the impact calculator.

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.

+Can I put drinking water in a used tote?

For genuine potable storage, use a rebottled unit — the bottle is new, so prior contents are not a question. Documented food-grade stock is acceptable for short-term non-potable-rated use. General Grade A stock is not.

+Do you provide wash certificates?

Yes for W3, W4 and W5 washes: standard, temperature, detergent, sanitiser, date and operator. We retain copies for seven years.

+What makes a used tote food grade?

Three things at once: an FDA 21 CFR 177.1520 compliant HDPE bottle, a documented history in which every prior content was edible, and a wash to a written standard with recorded parameters. Missing any one and the honest description is 'clean'.

+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.

+What about allergen control?

Washing reduces residue; it does not certify absence. If you produce allergen-free product, rebottle and dedicate the units rather than relying on a wash. No honest reconditioner will give you an allergen-free guarantee on a reused bottle.

Send a food & beverage request.

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

Get a quote All industries