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Sustainability
The greenest container in the world is one that already exists.
This is not a values statement bolted onto a packaging business. It is the business. Every dollar we make comes from a container that was going to be replaced and was not — which means our revenue and our avoided emissions are literally the same number counted twice. Here is the arithmetic, the methodology and the part we are still bad at.
Short answer
Per 275-gallon container kept in service: 187 lb CO2e, 42 lb virgin HDPE, 88 lb steel, 92 gal process water and 1.9 cubic yards of landfill avoided. Our inbound diversion rate is about 94%.
- CO2e / tote
- 187 lb
- Diversion
- 94%
- Landfilled whole
- 0
- Offsets bought
- None
Form 01 · Spec request
Need the figures for a report?
Ask for the component-level worksheet in the message field and we will send the assumptions, factors and unit maths so your team can audit them properly.
The waste hierarchy, applied
Four outcomes, ranked by how much impact each avoids.
Every inbound container is assessed against this ladder in order. Only what fails all three reuse tests reaches reclaim.
- 01
Reuse — best
Wash, test, refit, resell. Avoids 187 lb CO2e and 42 lb of virgin resin. Energy added: one wash cycle and a truck ride.
187 lb CO2e avoided - 02
Rebottle — second
New bottle into a reclaimed cage. Avoids 118 lb CO2e by keeping 88 lb of steel out of the furnace. The bottle is still new, so resin savings are zero.
118 lb CO2e avoided - 03
Repair — enabler
Straightening a bar or re-decking a pallet moves a container from the reclaim pile back up to reuse or rebottle. Tiny input, enormous leverage.
Unlocks the two above - 04
Reclaim — last
Grind, wash, pelletise, bale. Recovers material and avoids 148 lb CO2e against virgin production, but spends real energy doing it and downgrades the resin.
148 lb CO2e avoided
Per container
What one 275-gallon tote is worth in avoided impact.
Component masses times production intensities. Conservative, and deliberately so.
187lb CO2e
Emissions avoided
Full reuse versus new manufacture
42lb
Virgin HDPE not made
One blow-moulded inner bottle
88lb
Steel kept in service
Cage, rails and pallet frame
92gal
Process water avoided
Upstream in resin production
1.9cu yd
Landfill airspace saved
Uncrushed container volume
210miles
Driving equivalent
At 0.89 lb CO2 per mile
Impact Lab
Run it for your own volume.
Pick a route, set a quantity, take the receipt to your sustainability lead. The same calculator sits on every relevant page of this site.
Step 01 — pick a route
Step 02 — how many totes
totes
Carbon avoided4,488 lb CO2e
Process water avoided2,208 gal
Landfill airspace kept empty46 cu yd
Reclaim receipt
RCL-Xundefined-53877
- Totes in this batch
- 24 units
- Virgin HDPE not made
- 1,008 lb
- Steel kept in service
- 2,112 lb
- CO2e avoided
- 4,488 lb
- Process water avoided
- 2,208 gal
- Landfill diverted
- 45.6 cu yd
Which is roughly
- 5,043 miles not driven
- 94 mature trees working for a year
- 130 household showers of water
Planning estimates for a 275-gallon composite IBC. Ask us for the component-level worksheet if you need figures for an ESG or Scope 3 filing.
Methodology
Where the numbers come from, and what they are not.
| Input | Value used | Basis | Confidence |
|---|---|---|---|
| HDPE bottle mass | 42 lb | Weighed sample of retired 275 gal bottles | High |
| Steel cage & frame mass | 88 lb | Weighed sample, cage plus rails plus pallet frame | High |
| Virgin HDPE production | ~1.8 lb CO2e / lb | Published resin production intensities | Medium |
| Virgin steel production | ~1.9 lb CO2e / lb | Published primary steel intensities | Medium |
| Process water, resin | ~2.2 gal / lb | Published resin water intensity | Medium-low |
| Landfill volume | 1.9 cu yd | Uncrushed external volume of a 275 gal tote | High |
| Driving equivalent | 0.89 lb CO2 / mile | US average passenger vehicle | High |
| Transport emissions | Not deducted | Freight impact excluded from the avoided total | Conservative |
What we do well
Honest strengths
- Zero containers landfilled whole since 2009
- 94% of inbound mass leaves as product or recovered material
- Repair capability that moves containers up the ladder rather than down it
- In-house recertification keeping rated containers in regulated service
- Diversion statements issued as standard, not on request
- Willingness to sell a customer a cheaper grade or nothing at all
What we do badly
The uncomfortable list
- Our freight is diesel. Electrification of a regional flatbed fleet is not solved yet.
- The caustic wash line uses heat and water. We recirculate, but the footprint is real.
- About 6% of inbound mass is still unrecoverable residue and contamination.
- Recycled HDPE from our bottles cannot go back into new IBC bottles — a limit of the material, not of effort.
- We have no third-party certified LCA. It is expensive and we have prioritised equipment instead.
Questions
Sustainability, answered.
01How do you calculate the carbon figures?
From component masses and published production intensities: 42 lb HDPE bottle at roughly 1.8 lb CO2e per lb of virgin resin, 88 lb of galvanised steel at roughly 1.9 lb CO2e per lb, plus deck and fittings. They are conservative planning estimates, not a certified life-cycle assessment, and we say so on every page that uses them.
02Can I use these numbers in an ESG or Scope 3 report?
Use them for internal planning freely. For external reporting, ask us for the component-level worksheet so your sustainability team can see the assumptions and substitute their own emission factors where their methodology requires it.
03What is your actual diversion rate?
Around 94% of inbound mass leaves as a working container or as recovered material. The remaining 6% is residue routed to compliant treatment, unrecoverable composite fractions and contamination. We publish the number rather than rounding it to a nicer one.
04Is recycled HDPE as good as virgin?
For the applications it goes into — pipe, drainage, industrial sheet, non-food packaging — yes. For blow-moulding a new IBC bottle, generally not, which is exactly why reuse matters so much more than recycling in this particular product category.
05Do you buy carbon offsets?
No. We are not interested in paying to look neutral. The entire value of this business is avoided emissions from containers that did not need to be manufactured, and that is a real reduction rather than a purchased one.
Scaling the figures
Avoided impact by fleet size and route.
Multiply the per-container figures by your own volume. These are the tables customers most often lift into an internal business case.
| Containers | CO2e avoided | Virgin HDPE | Steel in service | Process water | Landfill |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 10 | 1,870 lb | 420 lb | 880 lb | 920 gal | 19 cu yd |
| 25 | 4,675 lb | 1,050 lb | 2,200 lb | 2,300 gal | 48 cu yd |
| 50 | 9,350 lb | 2,100 lb | 4,400 lb | 4,600 gal | 95 cu yd |
| 100 | 9.4 tons | 4,200 lb | 8,800 lb | 9,200 gal | 190 cu yd |
| 200 | 18.7 tons | 8,400 lb | 17,600 lb | 18,400 gal | 380 cu yd |
| 500 | 46.8 tons | 21,000 lb | 44,000 lb | 46,000 gal | 950 cu yd |
| 1,000 | 93.5 tons | 42,000 lb | 88,000 lb | 92,000 gal | 1,900 cu yd |
| Route | CO2e | Virgin HDPE | Steel | Water | Landfill | Driving equivalent |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Reconditioned and reused | 187 lb | 42 lb | 88 lb | 92 gal | 1.9 cu yd | 210 miles |
| Rebottled | 118 lb | 0 lb | 88 lb | 34 gal | 1.1 cu yd | 133 miles |
| Reclaimed to material | 148 lb | 38 lb recovered | 88 lb | 61 gal | 1.9 cu yd | 166 miles |
| Landfilled (for contrast) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | −1.9 cu yd | 0 |
Full methodology
Every input, its source and how much we trust it.
| Input | Value | Source | Confidence | Effect if wrong |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| HDPE bottle mass | 42 lb | Weighed sample of retired 275 gal bottles | High | Proportional |
| Steel cage and frame mass | 88 lb | Weighed sample | High | Proportional |
| Deck and fittings mass | 12–25 lb | Weighed sample | Medium-high | Small |
| Virgin HDPE production | ~1.8 lb CO2e / lb | Published resin production intensities | Medium | Large on the CO2e line |
| Virgin steel production | ~1.9 lb CO2e / lb | Published primary steel intensities | Medium | Large on the CO2e line |
| Process water, resin | ~2.2 gal / lb | Published resin water intensity | Medium-low | Water line only |
| Landfill volume | 1.9 cu yd | Uncrushed external volume of a 275 gal tote | High | Small |
| Driving equivalent | 0.89 lb CO2 / mile | US average passenger vehicle | High | Presentation only |
| Tree-year equivalent | 48 lb CO2 / tree / year | Published sequestration estimate | Low | Presentation only |
| Our freight emissions | Not deducted | Deliberately excluded | — | Makes figures conservative |
| Our wash-line energy | Not deducted | Deliberately excluded | — | Makes figures conservative |
| Second and later reuse cycles | Not counted | Deliberately excluded | — | Understates reuse substantially |
The last three rows are the important ones. We exclude our own freight and processing energy from the avoided totals and count only the first cycle, which means every figure on this site is a floor rather than a ceiling.
Extended FAQ · 6 questions
More questions, answered
01How do you calculate the carbon figures?
From component masses and published production intensities: a 42-pound HDPE bottle at roughly 1.8 pounds CO2e per pound of virgin resin, 88 pounds of galvanised steel at roughly 1.9, plus deck and fittings. Conservative planning estimates, not a certified life-cycle assessment.
02Can I use these numbers in an ESG or Scope 3 report?
Use them freely for internal planning. For external reporting, ask for the component-level worksheet so your team can see the assumptions and substitute their own emission factors where their methodology requires it.
03What is your actual diversion rate?
About 94% of inbound mass leaves as a working container or as recovered material. The remaining 6% is residue routed to compliant treatment, unrecoverable composite fractions and contamination. We publish it rather than rounding it away.
04Is recycled HDPE as good as virgin?
For the applications it goes into — pipe, drainage, industrial sheet, non-food packaging — yes. For blow-moulding a new IBC bottle, no, which is exactly why reuse matters so much more than recycling in this product category.
05Do you buy carbon offsets?
No. The entire value of this business is avoided emissions from containers that did not need to be manufactured, which is a real reduction rather than a purchased one. Buying credits would confuse the two and make our numbers harder to audit.
06Why are freight and wash energy excluded from the figures?
Deliberately, to keep the numbers conservative. Including them would reduce the avoided totals slightly; excluding them means every figure we publish is a floor rather than a ceiling.
Next step
Ask for the worksheet.
If you are reporting on packaging circularity, we will send the component-level maths so your team can audit it rather than take our word for it.