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.

Services

Eight services.
One yard.
No brokers.

Most companies selling used totes are brokers with a parking lot. We run every step ourselves on twelve acres off Montopolis Drive, which is why a grade means the same thing this week as it did last week.

Close-up of a single 275 gallon IBC tote showing its capacity label, UN placard and blue ball valve

The short answer

We buy used IBC totes, sell graded stock, wash and recondition to five published standards, rebottle with new HDPE, recycle end-of-life units, haul across Texas, manage customer fleets on a return cycle, and fabricate custom builds — all in-house from one Austin yard.

From the yard

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.

IBC totes strapped two high inside a box trailer with timber dunnage between the layers — Empties double-stacked and strapped over the cage rail — never over the bottle.

15 yrs

on Montopolis Drive

Same site since 2011.

3,400

totes on the yard

Typical standing inventory.

48h

typical turnaround

Request to loaded truck.

Texas counties served

On consolidated routes.

The catalog

What we do, in the order a tote experiences it

SVC-02

Buy your totes

The tote's second life starts here. We price empties from photos and collect anywhere in Texas.

Cash or credit · 20+ unit pickup

SVC-03

Wash & recondition

From a cold rinse to a documented caustic clean-in-place, on a wash pad that recycles 92% of its water.

W1 – W5 published standards

SVC-04

Rebottle

When the bottle is finished but the cage has fifteen years left, replace the part that wore out.

New bottle · reconditioned cage

SVC-08

Custom fabrication

Open-top bins, planters, wash stations, skid frames and anything else that starts with a saw.

Cut · plumb · frame · brand

SVC-01

Sell graded stock

Pick your own units in the yard or take our recommendation by email. What you see is what ships.

Seven grades · real inventory

SVC-05

Transport & logistics

Consolidated routes across Texas, plus dedicated loads when the volume justifies it.

Flatbed · van · hotshot · moffett

SVC-07

Tote management

We collect, wash, inspect and redeploy your fleet on a cycle so your containers stop disappearing.

Closed-loop asset return

SVC-06

Recycling & disposal

When a tote is genuinely finished, the material re-enters manufacturing instead of a landfill cell.

Granulated HDPE · baled steel

How a tote moves through here

Intake to outbound, four gates

Every unit that enters the yard passes the same four decision points. Where it exits determines what we can honestly sell it as.

STEP 01
Gate 1 — Declaration
Prior contents declared at intake. Food product goes to the covered lane; chemical goes to general stock; undeclared goes to recovery. This gate is why our food-grade claim means something.
STEP 02
Gate 2 — Structural inspection
Cage welds, base corners, bottle integrity, valve seat, pallet feet. Sound units continue; compromised bottles with straight cages divert to rebottling.
STEP 03
Gate 3 — Wash
The standard is set by the exit grade, not by convenience. Food-grade stock gets W4 caustic CIP with recorded parameters, no exceptions.
STEP 04
Gate 4 — Grade and tag
The person who washed it grades it, tags it and racks it. The grade on the tag is the grade on your quote and the grade that arrives on your truck.

Why we do all of it ourselves

The used-container business has a structural honesty problem. A broker who never touches a tote cannot verify prior contents, cannot guarantee a wash, and has every incentive to describe a unit generously. The result is a market where “food grade” and “Grade A” mean whatever the seller needs them to mean.

Running intake, wash, rebottling, fabrication and recovery on one site removes that problem. The grade is applied by the person holding the pressure washer. The wash record is generated by the machine that did the wash. The prior contents came from a declaration collected at our own gate.

It also makes us faster. A rebottled unit does not wait for a third party's schedule, and a fabrication job does not go out and come back. Most of what we do is finished inside forty-eight hours.

What we don't do

We are not a hazardous waste disposal company. We cannot accept totes containing residual regulated waste, and we will tell you when the right call is a licensed disposal contractor rather than us. We also do not certify containers to NSF/ANSI 61 or issue manufacturer-level approvals — those are factory programmes and no reconditioner can honestly claim them.

Questions people actually ask

+Do you broker totes or actually handle them?

We handle them. Intake, grading, washing, rebottling, fabrication and material recovery all happen on our own site in southeast Austin. That is why our grades are consistent and our lead times are short — nobody is waiting on a third party's yard.

+What's your minimum order?

There isn't one for pickup at the yard. For delivery, small orders ride our consolidated routes with a modest freight line; above about four totes it's usually absorbed into the unit price.

+Can you handle a full fleet program?

Yes — collection, wash to your specified standard, inspection, requalification where needed, and return to your fill line on an agreed cycle. That's the Tote Management Program.

+How quickly do you respond to a request?

Same business day for anything sent before mid-afternoon. We work by email rather than phone, which means every commitment is in writing and nothing depends on catching the right person at their desk.

Elsewhere

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

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.

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.

+Which grade should I buy?

The cheapest one that genuinely does the job. For water and general industrial duty that's usually B. For anything edible it's F or rebottled. For regulated chemical shipping it's rebottled with valid UN marking. For washout containment and cutting projects it's C.

+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.

+How long does an IBC tote last?

The steel cage runs 15 to 25 years. The bottle depends entirely on contents — one to three fills of aggressive chemistry, or five to ten years of benign service. That asymmetry is why rebottling exists.

+Can I pick up at the yard?

Yes, and it's the cheapest option. Bring a truck that takes a 48 × 40 pallet, ratchet straps and closed-toe shoes. We load with a forklift at no charge.

+Can I transport fuel in an IBC tote?

Not on public roads — totes are not DOT-approved for it. Static storage on private property, properly placarded and contained, is a different question and is generally permissible subject to local fire code.

Describe the problem, not the service.

Half our customers arrive asking for the wrong thing and leave with something cheaper that works better. Tell us what you're actually trying to do.

Get a quote

Eight services.One yard.No brokers.

Which service do you need?