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Industries
The same container, four completely different specifications.
A chemical blender cares about the UN plate and the gasket material. A grower cares about UV stability and price. A beverage co-packer cares about paperwork and the pallet. A municipal yard cares about whether it survives a winter of being dropped off a truck. Selling to all four is what keeps containers moving between them.
Short answer
Four main sectors: chemical manufacturing (compliance), agriculture (price and UV), food and beverage (documentation), construction and municipal (durability).
- Sectors
- 4 main
- Largest inbound
- Chemical
- Largest outbound
- Agriculture
- Strictest
- Food
Form 01 · Spec request
Tell us your sector.
It changes which questions we ask you. Chemical enquiries get a compliance conversation; agricultural ones get a price and season conversation.
Overview
What each sector actually needs.
Cross-reference
Requirements at a glance.
The same table our quoting team works from. It is also why we ask what industry you are in before we ask anything else.
| Requirement | Chemical | Agriculture | Food & beverage | Construction & municipal |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Typical grade | Reconditioned | Used B / C | Food grade | Used B / C |
| UN rating needed | Usually | Sometimes | Rarely | Rarely |
| Prior-contents documentation | Essential | Helpful | Essential | Not critical |
| Pallet requirement | Any | Any | Plastic or steel | Steel preferred |
| Bottle colour | Either | Black for field use | Natural typical | Either |
| Gasket selection | Critical | Standard EPDM | Silicone or EPDM | Standard EPDM |
| Price sensitivity | Moderate | High | Low | High |
| Seasonality | Flat | Strongly seasonal | Flat | Seasonal |
| Closed-loop candidate | Excellent | Poor | Moderate | Poor |
Questions
Sectors, answered.
01Do you specialise in one industry?
No, and that is deliberate. Handling chemical, agricultural, food and municipal customers in one yard is what lets us route a container to whichever of them can still use it. A tote that no longer suits a food line is often perfect for a grower.
02Can you supply to a spec or an audit standard?
We supply to documented requirements: prior contents, grade, pallet type, UN rating and test status. Send the specification and we will tell you honestly which parts we can evidence and which we cannot.
03Which industry sells you the most containers?
Chemical manufacturing and lubricant packing, by volume. They generate empties continuously and consume reconditioned stock at similar rates, which makes them ideal closed-loop candidates.
Sector detail
Typical order profiles by industry.
What each sector actually buys, how often, and what makes a quote go wrong for them specifically.
| Sector | Typical order | Frequency | Grade | Lead time tolerance | Biggest risk |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chemical manufacturing | 20–200 units | Monthly to quarterly | Reconditioned, UN rated | Low | Expired plates discovered late |
| Lubricant and oil packing | 40–150 units | Monthly | Reconditioned, Viton seals | Low | EPDM seals fitted by default |
| Coatings and resins | 20–80 units | Monthly | Reconditioned or rebottled | Medium | Cured product in returned units |
| Agriculture and growers | 5–60 units | Strongly seasonal | Used B / C | High off-season | Buying in the spring rush |
| Food and beverage | 4–40 units | Irregular | Food grade | High | Assuming clean equals food safe |
| Construction | 5–50 units | Project-driven | Used C, steel base | Low | Containers abandoned at demobilisation |
| Municipal | 10–100 units | Seasonal | Used B, steel cage | Low in season | Freeze damage over winter |
| Brokers and recyclers | Truckloads | Continuous | Mixed | High | Undocumented mixed loads |
| Sector | Wash certificate | Prior contents | Leakproof record | Diversion statement | Batch traceability |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chemical manufacturing | Essential | Essential | Essential | Increasingly | Sometimes |
| Lubricant packing | Essential | Essential | Sometimes | Increasingly | Rarely |
| Coatings | Essential | Essential | Sometimes | Increasingly | Rarely |
| Agriculture | Helpful | Helpful | Rarely | Rarely | Rarely |
| Food and beverage | Essential | Essential | Rarely | Sometimes | Essential |
| Construction | Rarely | Helpful | Rarely | Contract-driven | No |
| Municipal | Sometimes | Helpful | Rarely | Often | No |
| Brokers | Depends on their customer | Essential | Depends | Often | No |
Extended FAQ · 5 questions
More questions, answered
01Do you specialise in one industry?
No, and that is deliberate. Handling chemical, agricultural, food and municipal customers in one yard is what lets us route a container to whichever of them can still use it. A container that no longer suits a food line is often perfect for a grower.
02Can you supply to a specification or an audit standard?
We supply to documented requirements: prior contents, grade, pallet type, UN rating and test status. Send the specification and we will tell you honestly which parts we can evidence and which we cannot.
03Which industry sells you the most containers?
Chemical manufacturing and lubricant packing, by volume. They generate empties continuously and consume reconditioned stock at similar rates, which makes them ideal closed-loop candidates.
04Why does the sector change your first question?
Because it changes what matters. A chemical enquiry gets a compliance conversation, an agricultural one gets a price and season conversation, and a food one gets a documentation conversation. Sending everybody the same price list wastes a week.
05Do you work with industries not listed here?
Constantly — waste management, landscaping, breweries, car washes, aquaculture, fire and emergency services, and a long tail of manufacturers. The four sectors listed are simply the largest by volume.
Next step
Different sector, different first question.
Tell us what you make and we will ask the right things rather than sending a generic price list.