IBC ToteTexas

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.

Guide · start here

Four questions.
Five inspection points.
No surprises.

Buying used containers badly is genuinely expensive — sometimes in money, occasionally in a failed audit or a contaminated batch. Buying them well takes about ten minutes of preparation. This is that ten minutes.

Rows of used 275 gallon composite IBC totes stacked two high in an outdoor yard under a blue sky

The short answer

Ask four questions before you buy: what was in it, what wash standard was applied, is there a valid UN marking with a current retest, and what grade is it under a published definition. Then inspect five points on arrival: cage base welds, bottle around the outlet, valve seat, lid gasket and pallet feet. Those nine things prevent nearly every bad outcome.

Skip the research

Describe the application and we'll recommend a size, grade and fitting spec — including when the cheap option is right.

We reply here, so it has to be an inbox you actually read.

US or Canadian number, 10 digits. We format it as you type.

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5-digit US ZIP, or a Canadian postal code like K1A 0B1.

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No phone number required from us — we work by email and we answer fast. Fields marked * are required.

From the yard

Outdoor tote yard beside a metal warehouse with the Texas flag flying overhead
The yard on a working Tuesday. Everything ships from one site in southeast Austin.
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.

Before you buy

The four questions

Ask these of any seller, including us. The quality of the answers tells you more than the price does.

  1. STEP 01

    What was in it?

    Prior contents determine everything downstream — whether it can hold food, whether residues persist, whether it should be near livestock. 'We don't know' is a legitimate answer for a cheap jobsite tote and a disqualifying one for anything else.

  2. STEP 02

    What wash standard was applied?

    'Cleaned' spans a cold rinse and a caustic clean-in-place. Ask for a named standard and a record. If neither exists, price the tote as unwashed and plan to clean it yourself.

  3. STEP 03

    Is there a valid UN marking?

    Only relevant if you'll ship regulated product on public roads. If you will, ask for the reconditioner registration number and the last test date. A plate alone proves nothing.

  4. STEP 04

    What grade, under whose definition?

    Grade only means something if the seller publishes what their grades mean. Ask for the definition. Comparing two quotes without it is comparing two different products.

On arrival

The five failure points

These account for nearly every problem we see at intake. Five minutes with a flashlight before you sign the delivery paperwork.

Inspection priority points
PointWhat you're looking forWhy it mattersVerdict if bad
Cage base corner weldsCracks, previous repair, corrosion at the jointThe base corners carry the entire load of a full toteReject — this is the one failure that drops 2,400 lb
Bottle around the outletCrazing, stress whitening, deformation, weepingThe outlet flange is moulded into the bottle and is the highest-stress areaReject for liquid service; may be rebottlable
Valve seat and bodyCross-threading, cracked body, perished gasket, weepingCheapest part to replace, most common source of slow lossAccept with a new valve — negotiate it
Lid and gasketMissing gasket, wrong lid, cracked threads, wrong vent typeDetermines whether the tote seals and whether it collapses under pumpAccept with a new lid; confirm vented vs solid
Pallet feet and deckBroken feet, deformed deck, rot on wood, blocked fork entryDetermines whether a forklift can safely lift it at allReject if forks won't seat squarely

The full 48-point checklist our intake crew uses →

Red flags

Claims that mean nothing

None of these are lies exactly. They're just statements with no content, and they're used precisely because they cannot be checked.

“Food grade” with no record

Food grade is a documentation claim. Without a prior-contents history and a wash record, the accurate word is 'clean'.

“UN rated” with no registration

Only a registered reconditioner can restore a UN marking. Ask for the registration number. A plate on a cage is not a certification.

“Professionally cleaned”

By whom, to what standard, at what temperature, with what chemistry, recorded how? If none of that has an answer, it's a hose-down.

“Like new”

A description of appearance offered in place of a grade. Ask for the grade and its published definition instead.

Deciding what to actually buy

Start with the product, not the container

What goes in the tote determines everything: the grade, the seal compound, the valve, the lid and whether documentation is needed. Sellers who ask what you are storing before quoting are doing you a favour, not stalling.

Then the size

The 275 is the default and fits everywhere. The 330 is better value per gallon if your clearances allow it. The decision is almost entirely about height — see 275 vs 330.

Then the grade

Grade moves price by a factor of four across the same size, which makes it the most consequential choice on the order. Buy the cheapest grade that genuinely works — the grades page sets out what each one is good and bad for.

Then the fittings

A ball valve on viscous product costs you an hour on every transfer, forever. A vented lid prevents bottle collapse under pump. Both are small premiums at purchase and large regrets afterwards. See valve and fitting sizes.

Then the freight

For used containers, freight is a meaningful share of delivered cost. Consolidated routes make small orders viable; dedicated loads win above about twenty units. Yard pickup beats both. Details on the transport page.

Costs

What actually drives the number

In rough order of impact on your delivered price.

Price drivers, most to least significant
DriverTypical impactHow to manage it
GradeUp to 4× across the same sizeBuy the cheapest grade that genuinely works
Freight distance and modeCan exceed unit price on small distant ordersUse consolidated routes or collect at the yard
QuantitySteps at 10, 24, 48 and full trailerConsolidate purchases into fewer larger orders
DocumentationMeaningful premium on F-grade and UN-marked stockOnly buy documentation you'll actually use
Valve and fittingsModest, but permanent in daily time costSpend here — it pays back fast
Pallet typeSmall on price, real on freight weightComposite unless the environment demands otherwise
SizeSmaller than people expectPrefer 330 per gallon if clearances allow

Questions people actually ask

+What's the single most important question to ask a seller?
What was in it? If the seller cannot tell you the prior contents, you are buying an unknown. That is acceptable for washout containment and disqualifying for anything edible, anything near livestock, and anything you intend to fill with a regulated chemical.
+Is buying used actually risky?
Buying used carelessly is risky. Buying used with prior contents documented, a named wash standard and a five-minute inspection is not — it's how most of industrial Texas gets its containers, and it costs a fraction of new.
+Should I buy locally or ship?
Local wins on freight, which for used containers is a substantial share of delivered cost. Ship when you need a specific grade, documentation or a reconditioner registration that the local yard cannot provide.
+How do I know a price is fair?
Compare on grade and wash standard, not on headline price. A quote that's 30% cheaper is usually cheaper because it's a lower grade with a lighter wash — which may be exactly what you want, as long as you know.
+Is it worth driving to the yard?
For a first purchase, usually yes. You learn what the grades mean, you pick your own units, and you save the freight. After that, most people order by email and never come back.

Related

Next

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

Rows of used 275 gallon composite IBC totes stacked two high in an outdoor yard under a blue sky
Graded stock on the outdoor rows, stacked two high and waiting on a grade tag.
Outdoor tote yard beside a metal warehouse with the Texas flag flying overhead
The yard on a working Tuesday. Everything ships from one site in southeast Austin.

More answers

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)
Coverage
68 Texas counties on scheduled routes, from one Austin yard.

+What if the totes arrive worse than described?
Tell us within 48 hours with photos and we make it right: replacement, credit or collection. It happens rarely, because the person who grades a tote is the person who washed it.
+How much does a used IBC tote cost?
Used composite IBCs in Texas run from the low hundreds for rough jobsite stock up to most of the price of a new unit for documented food-grade or rebottled containers. Grade moves the price more than anything else — often by a factor of four across the same size.
+Can I buy a single tote?
Yes. Plenty of customers buy one for a garden, a workshop or a wash station. Pickup at the yard is the cheapest route for a single unit.
+What is your minimum order?
None for yard pickup. For delivery, small orders ride our consolidated routes with a modest freight line, and above about four totes it's usually absorbed into the unit price.
+Can I clean a tote myself?
For non-critical uses, yes — a proper three-stage rinse with agitation and full drain between stages does a lot. For food service, no: you need documented parameters and a caustic clean-in-place, which is what our W4 standard is for.

Or skip all of it and just ask.

Tell us what's going in the tote and how many you need. We'll do the grade selection, name the wash standard and tell you if the cheap option is fine.

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