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Our story
We started because somebody was paying to bury perfectly good containers.
In 2009 a Cleveland chemical blender was writing cheques to have empty IBC totes hauled to landfill. Every one of them was 155 pounds of engineered plastic and galvanised steel with years of service left. Buying that problem off them turned out to be a business — and seventeen years later it is still the same business, just with a wash line, a cage shop and a fleet of trucks attached.
Short answer
A reuse operation in Cleveland, Ohio, founded 2009. We buy, wash, rebottle, repair, recertify, haul and — only when nothing else is left — reclaim intermediate bulk containers.
- Founded
- 2009
- Location
- Cleveland, OH
- Own-truck radius
- 6 states
- Diversion
- 94%
Form 01 · Spec request
Talk to the yard directly.
No call centre, no phone tree, no phone at all. Everything comes to the same inbox and a specialist answers it — usually within one business day.
What we believe
Recycling is what you do when you have already failed.
That sounds harsh, so here is the arithmetic behind it. Manufacturing a new 275-gallon composite IBC puts roughly 187 pounds of CO2e into the atmosphere, consumes 42 pounds of virgin polyethylene and 88 pounds of steel, and uses about 92 gallons of process water before the container has held a single drop of anything.
Recycling that container at end of life recovers most of the material — but it also spends energy grinding, washing, pelletising, baling, remelting and reshipping it. The recovered resin is worth less than the original. The recovered steel goes back to a furnace. It is a good outcome compared with a landfill and a poor outcome compared with simply washing the thing and using it again.
So our order of operations is fixed and we do not deviate from it: reuse, rebottle, repair, then reclaim. Every container that comes through the gate is assessed against that ladder in that order. Roughly 94% of what we take in leaves as a working container or as recovered material. Nothing is buried whole. Ever.
It also means we will occasionally argue you out of a purchase. If you ask for new containers and a rebottled unit meets your specification, we will show you the clause and the saving before we take the order. We would rather have the next ten years of your business than one inflated invoice.
2009
Founded
One truck, one rented yard
1.2M+
Totes kept in service
Cumulative since opening
94%
Inbound diverted
Reused, rebottled or reclaimed
9
Wash line stations
Intake to refit
6
States on own trucks
Contract freight beyond
0
Totes landfilled whole
Since day one
How we work
Five habits that make the difference.
- Grade honestly. A, B and C mean something here, and we describe defects before you pay rather than after you unload.
- Document everything. Prior contents, wash cycles, test results and diversion figures exist on paper because auditors ask you, not us.
- Sell you less when less works. Grade C for a dust-suppression job, not grade A. It costs us margin and earns the next order.
- Write it down, not phone it in. No phone number is a feature. Quantities and chemistries belong in writing.
- Take the container back. Whatever we sell, we will buy back or reclaim at end of life. The loop is not marketing; it is the operating model.
Questions
About us, answered.
01Are you a recycler or a reseller?
Neither description quite fits. We are a reuse operation. Reselling implies we move boxes; recycling implies we destroy them. What we actually do is decide, container by container, which of five outcomes keeps the most material in service — and only the fifth is recycling.
02Do you have a phone number?
No, deliberately. Everything runs through email and the forms on this site so that quantities, prior contents, photographs and quotes exist in writing. It has made us faster and it has eliminated an entire category of misunderstanding on the yard.
03Who do you sell to?
Chemical blenders, lubricant packers, coatings plants, growers, beverage co-packers, municipalities, contractors, brokers and a steady stream of individuals building rain tanks. Order sizes run from one pallet to full truckloads.
04Where are you located?
Our yard and office are at 4750 W 160th St, Cleveland, OH 44135, on Cleveland's west side. Our own trucks cover six states and we arrange contract freight nationwide.
The operation in numbers
What the yard actually does in a typical year.
Published because a claim without a figure is a slogan, and because a number you report is a number you work on.
| Outcome | Share of inbound mass | What it means | Direction |
|---|---|---|---|
| Reused after washing | 61% | Bottle, cage and pallet all back in service | Rising with better documentation |
| Rebottled | 12% | New bottle into a reclaimed cage | Stable |
| Repaired and returned | 6% | Cage, base or valve work; unit stayed whole | Rising with shop capacity |
| Reclaimed to material | 15% | HDPE to flake, steel baled, deck separated | Falling slowly |
| Unrecoverable | 6% | Residue, contamination, bonded fractions | Down 1.5 points in three years |
| Year | Capability added | What stopped being scrap | Effect |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2009 | Sorting and manual dismantling | Nothing — the baseline | Resale of sound stock only |
| 2011 | Caustic wash line | Dirty bottles with known contents | Inbound acceptance roughly doubled |
| 2013 | Cage shop and straightening jig | Bent frames, split decks, dead valves | Largest single jump in diversion |
| 2015 | Segregated food-grade pad | Documented edible-history containers | Food grade became a real line |
| 2017 | In-house UN recertification | Rated containers with lapsed testing | Thousands of units kept in regulated service |
| 2019 | Own regional fleet | Small and awkward collections | Yes to loads other people refuse |
| 2021 | Diversion reporting | Nothing — but it changed what we optimise | Reuse share started climbing |
| 2023 | Container management programmes | Containers lost into customers' yards | Turned a leak into a loop |
How we work
Nine standing rules.
Not values on a wall. Operating rules that decide what we do when a decision is awkward.
- Reuse, rebottle, repair, reclaim — in that order. Every inbound container is assessed against that ladder and the order is not negotiable.
- Grade honestly. A, B and C mean something here, and defects are described before you pay rather than after you unload.
- Document everything. Prior contents, wash cycles, test results and diversion figures, held against the serial.
- Sell less when less works. Grade C for a dust-suppression job. It costs margin once and earns the next decade.
- Write it down, do not phone it in. Counts and chemistries belong in writing where both sides can check them later.
- Never sell used industrial stock for food or potable service. Whatever it looks like and whatever the customer insists.
- Take the container back. Whatever we sell, we buy back or reclaim at end of life.
- Publish the remainder. A 100% figure would be a lie, and a number nobody reports is a number nobody improves.
- No offsets. The value here is emissions never produced, not credits purchased to look neutral.
Working with us
What to expect, practically.
| Situation | What we do | Timing |
|---|---|---|
| You send an enquiry | A specialist reads it — not a call centre | Within hours, in yard hours |
| We quote | Written pricing with alternatives where they exist | One business day |
| A cheaper grade would work | We tell you, with the difference in writing | In the quote |
| You approve | Build slot or truck booked | Same day |
| Something is wrong on arrival | Raise it with the serial; we resolve from the record | Same day |
| You want to know where containers went | Diversion statement, split by outcome | On request |
| An auditor asks a question | Records reissued against the serial | Same day |
| You need something we cannot do | We say so, and say who can | Immediately |
Extended FAQ · 6 questions
More questions, answered
01Are you a recycler or a reseller?
Neither quite fits. We are a reuse operation. Reselling implies we move boxes; recycling implies we destroy them. What we do is decide, container by container, which of five outcomes keeps the most material in service — and only the fifth is recycling.
02Why is there no phone number?
Deliberate. Everything runs through email and the forms on this site so that quantities, prior contents, photographs and quotes exist in writing. It has made us faster and eliminated an entire category of misunderstanding on the yard.
03Who do you sell to?
Chemical blenders, lubricant packers, coatings plants, growers, beverage co-packers, municipalities, contractors, brokers and a steady stream of individuals building rain tanks. Orders run from one pallet to full truckloads.
04Where are you located?
Our yard and office are at 4750 W 160th St, Cleveland, OH 44135, on the city's west side near the airport and I-480. Our own trucks cover six states and we arrange contract freight nationwide.
05What will you refuse to do?
Sell used industrial containers for food or potable service, describe a container as food grade without a prior-contents record, recertify a container with an illegible plate, or sell you grade A stock for a job grade C would do without mentioning it.
06How big is the operation?
One yard, nine wash stations, a cage shop, a rebottling bench, a certification bench, and enough trucks to cover six states. Small enough that the person deciding is usually standing next to the work.
Next step
Seventeen years of containers that did not get buried.
Whether you are buying one pallet or clearing a plant, the same yard specialists handle it and the same order of operations applies.