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Service · End of life
Recycling is the fourth-best thing we can do with your container.
It is still far better than a landfill, and when a tote is genuinely finished this is where it goes. Every unit is taken apart rather than crushed whole: the bottle is ground to HDPE flake, the cage and rails are baled as steel, and the deck is separated by material. You get a statement showing exactly what went where.
Short answer
Component-level reclaim: HDPE to flake, steel to bale, decks sorted by material. Roughly 94% of inbound mass is recovered, and you receive a diversion statement for reporting.
- Mass recovered
- ~94%
- Streams
- HDPE / steel / deck
- Reporting
- Diversion statement
- Buried whole
- 0
Form 01 · Spec request
Arrange end-of-life reclaim.
Give us the count and the prior contents. We will check reuse potential first — if any of the load can be saved, we will tell you and pay you more for those units.
Order of preference
We check three things before we grind anything.
Reclaim is the last option, not the first. Every inbound container is assessed against the reuse ladder before it reaches the line.
- 01
Can it be refilled?
Sound bottle, known prior contents, repairable cage. If yes, it goes to the wash line and back into service. This is the highest-value outcome for you and for the material.
Check 01 - 02
Can it be rebottled?
Bottle finished, cage sound. The frame goes to rebottling and only the bottle enters the reclaim stream — 88 pounds of steel stays in service.
Check 02 - 03
Can it be repaired?
Cage bowed, weld cracked, deck split, valve gone. The cage shop fixes what is fixable. A cage is worth an order of magnitude more repaired than baled.
Check 03 - 04
Then reclaim
Only what fails all three is separated to material. It is weighed by stream so the outcome appears on your diversion statement as a number, not an adjective.
Final
Material streams
Where each component actually ends up.
| Component | Approx. mass | Process | Destination market |
|---|---|---|---|
| HDPE inner bottle | 42 lb | Size reduce, granulate, wash, dry | Recycled HDPE: pipe, drainage, sheet, non-food packaging |
| Steel cage | 63 lb | Cut, bale | Ferrous scrap to mill feed |
| Steel pallet frame & rails | 25 lb | Cut, bale | Ferrous scrap to mill feed |
| Composite deck | 12–20 lb | Separate by material | Plastic reclaim or ferrous stream |
| Wood deck (where fitted) | 15–25 lb | Separate | Biomass or mulch |
| Valve & fittings | 2–4 lb | Sort by polymer and metal | Reuse where serviceable, otherwise reclaim |
| Residue & heels | Variable | Captured and routed compliantly | Licensed treatment |
The numbers
What a reclaim load actually recovers.
Per 275-gallon container routed through end-of-life reclaim rather than landfill.
38lb
HDPE recovered as flake
After wash and yield losses
88lb
Steel recovered
Cage, rails and pallet frame
148lb CO2e
Emissions avoided
Against virgin material production
1.9cu yd
Landfill airspace saved
Uncrushed container volume
Model your own load in the Impact Lab, or read how the reclaim line works step by step in the recycling process guide.
Questions
Recycling, answered.
01Is recycling the same as disposal?
No, and the difference matters for your reporting. Disposal means the container leaves your site and its fate is not tracked. Recycling as we run it means each component is separated, weighed and sent to a named material stream, and you receive a statement showing the split.
02Why do you try to talk customers out of recycling?
Because reuse avoids far more impact. Recycling a bottle recovers the material but spends energy grinding, washing, pelletising and reshipping it. Refilling the same bottle spends almost nothing. We check reuse potential on every inbound container before it enters the reclaim line.
03What happens to the plastic?
Bottles are size reduced, granulated to flake, washed and sold into recycled HDPE markets — typically piping, drainage, industrial sheet and non-food packaging. Colour and prior contents determine which market takes it.
04Can you handle containers with residue?
Ordinary industrial heels, yes, as part of the normal process. Regulated or hazardous residue needs to be declared in advance so the correct compliant route is arranged before a truck is dispatched.
05What is a diversion statement?
A document showing, for a given period or load, how many units and how many pounds went to reuse, rebottling, repair and material reclaim, versus anything that could not be recovered. Sustainability teams use it directly in reporting.
Mass balance
Where every pound of a retired container goes.
Weighed as it leaves, not estimated. This is what makes a diversion statement a document rather than an assertion.
| Component | Inbound mass | Recovered | Yield loss | Destination |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| HDPE inner bottle | 42 lb | 38 lb | 4 lb | Recycled HDPE: pipe, drainage, sheet |
| Steel cage | 63 lb | 63 lb | — | Ferrous scrap to mill feed |
| Pallet frame and rails | 25 lb | 25 lb | — | Ferrous scrap to mill feed |
| Composite deck | 12–20 lb | 8–16 lb | ~4 lb | Plastic reclaim or ferrous |
| Valve and fittings | 2–4 lb | 1–3 lb | ~1 lb | Reuse where serviceable, else reclaim |
| Labels and adhesive | <1 lb | — | <1 lb | Unrecoverable |
| Residue and heels | Variable | — | All | Licensed treatment |
| Outcome | Share of inbound mass | What it means | Trend |
|---|---|---|---|
| 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 |
Before the line
Three checks that keep containers out of reclaim.
The reclaim area's first job is to avoid using itself. Roughly four in five containers arriving with a reclaim label leave as something else.
| Check | Question | If yes | Typical outcome |
|---|---|---|---|
| 01 Documentation | Do we know what was in it? | Continue to check 02 | No: reclaim only, at a lower price |
| 02 Refill | Will the bottle come clean and hold pressure? | Wash line | 61% of inbound mass |
| 03 Rebottle | Bottle finished, cage sound? | Rebottling bench | 12% of inbound mass |
| 04 Repair | Can the cage or base be fixed? | Cage shop, then back to 02 or 03 | 6% of inbound mass |
| 05 Reclaim | All of the above failed | Material streams | 15% of inbound mass |
Reporting
What a diversion statement contains, and how to read one.
On the document
- Period or load reference, and the counts it covers.
- Tonnage split by reuse, rebottling, repair and material reclaim.
- The unrecoverable remainder, stated rather than rounded away.
- Whether figures are weighed or estimated — ours are weighed.
- Material destinations by stream.
- Serial-level detail for container management customers.
Questions to ask about anybody's statement
- By mass or by unit count? Mass is harder to flatter and is what reporting frameworks want.
- Is reuse separated from recycling? A single diverted figure hides the most important distinction.
- Is the remainder stated? A number adding to exactly 100% has usually had something removed.
- Weighed or sampled? Weighed streams are auditable; scaled estimates are not.
- Does it cover my containers or the whole facility? Both are legitimate and they are not the same claim.
Extended FAQ · 7 questions
More questions, answered
01Is recycling the same as disposal?
No, and the difference matters for your reporting. Disposal means the container leaves your site and its fate is untracked. Recycling as we run it means each component is separated, weighed and sent to a named material stream, and you receive a statement showing the split.
02Why do you try to talk customers out of recycling?
Because reuse avoids far more impact. Recycling recovers the material but spends energy grinding, washing, pelletising and reshipping it, and the reclaimed resin is worth less than the original. We check reuse potential on every inbound container first.
03What happens to the plastic?
Bottles are size reduced, granulated to flake, washed and dried, then sold into recycled HDPE markets — typically pipe, drainage, industrial sheet and non-food packaging. Colour and prior contents determine which market takes it.
04Can reclaimed HDPE become a new IBC bottle?
Generally not. Blow-moulding a container to a UN design type requires specific virgin resin grades with documented, consistent properties. That is a limitation of the application rather than of the material quality — and it is why reuse matters far more than recycling here.
05Can you handle containers with residue?
Ordinary industrial heels are part of the normal process. Regulated or hazardous residue must be declared in advance so the correct compliant route is arranged before a truck is dispatched.
06What is a diversion statement?
A document showing, for a load or a period, how many units and how many pounds went to reuse, rebottling, repair and material reclaim, against anything unrecoverable. Sustainability teams use it directly in reporting.
07What proportion of a container is actually recovered?
About 94% of inbound mass across our whole intake, counting reuse, rebottling, repair and reclaim together. Within the reclaim stream specifically, a 42-pound bottle yields roughly 38 pounds of usable flake after wash losses.
Next step
Before you call it waste, let us look at it.
Send a count and a description. Some of what people call scrap turns out to be a pallet of rebottling cages and a cheque.