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Product · Grade 02
Reconditioned IBC totes: the workhorse grade.
This is the container most industrial buyers actually need. The original bottle goes through caustic wash, steam and a pressure test; the cage is inspected and repaired; the valve and gaskets are new. It arrives clean, tight and documented — and it kept 155 pounds of material in circulation to get there.
Short answer
Original bottle, washed, pressure tested and resealed. The right default for refilling industrial fluids where you know the prior contents and the cargo is not edible.
- Bottle
- Washed original
- Test
- 3 psi hold
- Valve
- New, always
- CO2e saved
- 187 lb / tote
Form 01 · Spec request
Price reconditioned stock.
Tell us the fluid going in and the quantity. We will match a wash grade to it and quote delivered.
The process
Nine stations between your dock and ours.
Reconditioning is not a rinse. It is a line, and every station either fixes something or rejects the unit.
| # | Station | What happens | Rejection trigger |
|---|---|---|---|
| 01 | Intake & identification | Prior contents recorded from label, plate and shipper paperwork. | Unknown or non-disclosable contents |
| 02 | Residue evacuation | Heel drained and captured for compliant disposal. Nothing goes to the yard drain. | Residue exceeding permitted stream |
| 03 | Triple rinse | Three ambient-water rinses with rotating spray head, 360 degree coverage. | Persistent solids |
| 04 | Caustic wash | Heated caustic solution, dwell timed to the prior chemistry. | Chemically incompatible residue |
| 05 | Steam finish | Live steam to strip film and lift odour from the polymer surface. | Odour retained after two cycles |
| 06 | Dry & inspect | Forced-air dry, interior lamp inspection for crazing, stress whitening and pinholes. | Crazing or wall damage |
| 07 | Pressure test | Sealed and held at 3 psi; any decay fails the unit. | Pressure decay |
| 08 | Cage & pallet repair | Bars straightened, welds repaired, deck replaced, feet trued. | Structural failure beyond repair |
| 09 | Refit & record | New valve, new gaskets, new cap, wash certificate and unit record issued. | — |
Good fit
What people run in them
- Lubricants, hydraulic oils and cutting fluids
- Coatings, resins, adhesives and surfactant blends
- Water treatment chemistry and cooling-tower dosing
- Agricultural nutrients, adjuvants and liquid fertiliser
- Cleaning concentrates and industrial detergents
- De-icing brine, dust suppressants and road treatments
Not a fit
When to step up a grade
- Anything edible or potable — go to food grade, no exceptions.
- Products that cannot tolerate any prior-chemistry trace — specify rebottled.
- Solvents and aromatics that swell polyethylene — that is stainless.
- Regulated cargo without a current plate — add recertification.
Sustainability
The highest-yield thing you can do with a container.
Reuse beats recycling by a wide margin because the energy already spent forming the bottle and galvanising the cage stays banked in the object.
- 01
187 lb CO2e
Avoided per container against manufacturing a replacement — bottle, cage and pallet combined.
Per unit - 02
42 lb HDPE
Virgin polyethylene that never gets polymerised, shipped or moulded because the original bottle is still fit for service.
Per unit - 03
92 gallons
Process water avoided upstream in resin production, before a drop is used in your own plant.
Per unit - 04
1.9 cu yd
Landfill airspace that stays empty, which is roughly the uncrushed volume of a 275-gallon tote.
Per unit
Questions
Reconditioned totes, answered.
01What exactly does reconditioned mean here?
The original bottle stays. It is triple rinsed, run through a heated caustic wash, steam finished, dried, then pressure tested at 3 psi and held. The cage is inspected and repaired, the valve and every gasket are replaced, and the unit gets a wash record naming the prior contents and the wash cycle used.
02Will a reconditioned tote be stain free?
Not always, and we do not pretend otherwise. Dyes, iron oxides and some surfactants leave permanent colour in HDPE without affecting the material. We grade by residual odour and film, not by appearance, and we describe cosmetic staining before you buy.
03Can I get prior contents documentation?
Yes. Every reconditioned unit ships with a record of the last known contents and the wash cycle. If the prior contents cannot be established, the tote does not enter the reconditioned stream at all — it goes to used as-is or to reclaim.
04Is it suitable for hazardous materials?
It can be, with a current UN plate and a passed leakproofness test. Ask for recertified stock at quote time; we do the testing and marking in house rather than sending it out.
Keep reading
- Send us yours to washWe recondition your fleet, not just ours.Open →
- How to clean an IBC toteIf you want to do it yourself.Open →
- Rebottled vs reconditionedWhich one your job needs.Open →
- Valves & fittingsSpecify the outlet correctly.Open →
- Used as-is totesWhen clean enough is enough.Open →
- For chemical plantsCompatibility and plating.Open →
Wash line detail
Temperatures, dwell times and what each stage actually does.
The chemistry is only a third of it. Heat and contact time do most of the work, and cutting either is where reconditioning quietly fails.
| Station | Medium | Temperature | Dwell | What it removes | Failure it catches |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Residue evacuation | — | Ambient | — | Heels and free product | Undeclared regulated residue |
| Rinse 1–3 | Fresh water | Ambient–warm | Fill, agitate, drain ×3 | Soluble residue, solids | Persistent solids |
| Caustic wash | Alkaline solution | 60–70 °C | 10–20 min | Oils, fats, organic film | Chemically incompatible residue |
| Steam finish | Live steam | 100 °C | 3–6 min | Surface film, surface odour | Odour retained after two cycles |
| Forced-air dry | Air | Ambient | 20–40 min | Moisture | Trapped water in the boss |
| Lamp inspection | — | — | 30 sec | — | Crazing, stress whitening, pinholes |
| Pressure test | Air | Ambient | Sealed 3 psi, held | — | Pressure decay |
| Cage & base repair | — | — | Varies | — | Structural failure beyond repair |
| Refit & record | — | — | 5 min | — | — |
| Prior contents | Cycle | Passes typically needed | Residual risk | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Water, brines, salts | Rinse only | 1 | None | Cleanest inbound stock we see |
| Liquid fertiliser, nutrients | Standard | 1 | Low | Warm detergent, straightforward |
| Sugars, syrups, concentrates | Warm food cycle | 1 | Colour staining likely | Food-safe detergent and sanitiser |
| Surfactants and detergents | Extended rinse | 1–2 | Foam carryover | Additional rinse stages |
| Lubricants, hydraulic oils | Extended caustic | 1–2 | Film return on drying | Hot caustic with long dwell |
| Latex and waterborne coatings | Aggressive | 1–2 | High if cured | Wash promptly after emptying |
| Solvent-borne coatings | Assess first | — | Crazing risk | Often routed to rebottling |
| Dyes and pigments | Standard | 1 | Permanent stain | Graded on odour, film and pressure |
| Unknown | Not accepted | — | — | Routed to rebottling or reclaim |
Grading after the wash
What we check before a unit is called reconditioned.
Three tests, none of which is appearance. A stained bottle that passes all three is chemically clean and is graded on cosmetics alone.
| Test | Method | Pass criterion | If it fails |
|---|---|---|---|
| Odour | Held 24 h with the cap off, then smelled | No detectable prior-product odour | Second cycle, then rebottling |
| Film | Visual as the wall dries | No returning sheen | Second cycle, then reclaim |
| Pressure | Sealed, 3 psi, held | No decay | Gasket replaced and retested, then rebottling |
| Wall integrity | Torch at a shallow angle | No crazing or stress whitening | Rebottling or reclaim |
| Geometry | Set on flat ground | Square, no rocking, walls parallel | Straighten or reclaim |
| Cage | Bar, weld and coating inspection | Sound or repairable | Repair or bale |
| Closures | Full valve travel, seal condition | New parts fitted | Refit |
| Plate | Photographed and transcribed | Legible where regulated use is intended | Non-regulated service only |
In service
Getting the most cycles out of a reconditioned container.
- 01
Drain fully
Empty through the outlet with the container tilted, at the point of use, while somebody still knows what was in it. A heel left in storage becomes an unknown within months.
At every empty - 02
Cap it
Fill cap on, outlet cap on. This single habit prevents rain ingress, which is the largest destroyer of otherwise reusable stock in this industry.
Immediately - 03
Replace the seals
Outlet gasket, valve seat and cap seal on every cycle, or whenever the product family changes. They are consumables and they are where residue persists.
Every cycle - 04
Inspect with a lamp
Thirty seconds through the fill opening at every wash. Crazing at the corners and around the outlet boss is invisible in daylight and terminal when it appears.
Every cycle
Extended FAQ · 7 questions
More questions, answered
01What does reconditioned mean here, precisely?
The original bottle stays. It is triple rinsed, run through heated caustic, steam finished, force dried, lamp inspected and pressure tested at 3 psi with a hold. The cage is inspected and repaired, the valve and every gasket are replaced, and the unit ships with a wash certificate naming the prior contents and the cycle used.
02Will a reconditioned container be free of staining?
Not always, and we do not pretend otherwise. Dyes, iron oxides and some surfactants leave permanent colour in HDPE without affecting the material. We grade on odour, residual film and pressure, not on appearance, and we describe cosmetic staining before you buy.
03Can I have my own containers washed rather than buying yours?
Yes. Toll washing keeps your serial numbers and your asset register intact and avoids the paperwork of a disposal plus an acquisition. We collect, process and return your own units with certificates against each serial.
04How many times can a container be reconditioned?
There is no fixed limit. A bottle typically supports several fill and wash cycles before staining, crazing or odour retention retires it, at which point rebottling puts a new bottle in the same frame. The cage usually outlives three or four bottles.
05What if you cannot establish the prior contents?
Then the container cannot enter the reuse stream at all. A wash cycle is selected from the prior chemistry, and an unknown has no cycle. Those units go to rebottling or reclaim, and they are worth considerably less as a result.
06Is reconditioned stock suitable for hazardous materials?
It can be, with a current UN design-type marking and a passed leakproofness test. Ask for recertified stock at quote time; we do the testing and marking in house rather than sending units out.
07How long does a wash run take?
Typically five to ten working days from receipt, depending on the cycle the prior chemistry needs and whether cage repair is involved. We give you a date rather than a range once we have seen the load.
Next step
Send the chemistry, get the grade.
Prior contents and next contents are all we need to tell you whether reconditioned works or whether you should spend more.