Don't dumpster
the empties.
Sell them.
If you have twelve or more used IBC totes sitting in your yard, we'll quote you on them and pick them up. Free of charge to you, with a payment on the spot — and a paper trail your sustainability team can use.
The full range of saleable used totes.
- 275 and 330 gallon composite IBCs with intact HDPE bottle and steel cage.
- Both pallet types — composite (preferred) and steel. Wood pallets accepted, may discount slightly.
- Any prior food, beverage, or ag liquid declared honestly. Honest declarations get the best price.
- Most prior industrial chemicals as long as they are not on our restricted list (below).
- Cosmetic blemishes — sun fade, label residue, minor cage dents — are fine. They affect grade, not acceptance.
What we won't pick up.
For everyone's safety, we cannot accept totes that held:
- Acutely hazardous substances (EPA P-listed, U-listed where regulated)
- Crude oil, fuel sludge, or unrefined petroleum
- Restricted pesticides (the Class I list — ask if unsure)
- Anything with unknown contents we can't even guess at
When in doubt, send a photo and the original SDS. We'll tell you what we can do — even if the answer is "take it to a hazmat handler."
What we'll pay.
Pricing depends on grade — clean and intact totes pay more, beat-up but reusable totes pay less, recycle-only totes pay the least but still get picked up at scale.
- 12–35 totes: per-unit pricing, free pickup, paid on completion.
- 36+ totes: tiered per-unit pricing, sometimes premium for full truck.
- 100+ totes: standing pickup schedule available.
Why we can pay for small loads.
A standalone pickup of 12 totes does not pay for itself. So we don't do standalone pickups of 12 totes. We route your pickup with other pickups along the same corridor on the way back from a delivery. That's how we make the economics work — and why small-volume sellers actually have a real option here.
Practically: when you submit a sell quote, we tell you the window. Sometimes it's this week, sometimes it's a two-week wait. We'll always tell you the truth about when we can route it.
What actually counts toward the twelve.
We get this question every week: "I have eight good ones and seven beat-up ones — does that count?" Almost always, yes. Here's the matrix we use to triage inbound photos.
| Unit condition | Counts toward 12? | Payment tier | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Clean, valve intact, cage straight, prior food | Yes | Top tier | Becomes food-grade recon candidate. |
| Clean, valve intact, prior industrial (disclosed) | Yes | Mid tier | Becomes industrial recon candidate. |
| Sun-faded but structurally sound | Yes | Mid tier | Cosmetic discount, otherwise fine. |
| Cage dented, bottle uncracked | Yes | Lower tier | Cage straightening is cheap; we discount the unit modestly. |
| Valve missing or cracked | Yes | Lower tier | $18–$28 valve swap; reflected in price. |
| Cracked bottle, sound cage | Yes | Recycle tier | Goes to recycling; still picked up. |
| Wood pallet rotted | Yes | Lower tier | $22 pallet swap. |
| Unknown prior contents, no SDS, no label | Maybe | Case-by-case | Send a photo of the tote and the residue. Sometimes yes, sometimes hazmat referral. |
| Restricted prior contents (see list above) | No | Not accepted | We'll refer you to a hazmat handler. |
Roughly what we pay (USD per unit).
These are ballpark per-unit payouts on a 12+ pickup, free freight to you. Actual numbers depend on grade, location, and current inventory. We pay by ACH or check within 3 business days of pickup.
$40–$60
Food-grade-ready: clean, valve good, cage straight, prior food contents.
$22–$38
Industrial-ready: clean enough, valve good, prior contents disclosed and accepted.
$8–$18
Needs cage / valve / pallet work but structurally sound.
How small loads get paid for.
A 53' van holds about 40 IBCs floor-loaded, 80 stacked two-high. A standalone trip to pick up 12 totes burns roughly $4.20/mile in operating cost and pays for nothing. So we don't do that. Here's what we actually do.
Backhaul on outbound deliveries.
When a truck delivers 40 reconditioned totes to Wichita, it doesn't come back empty. We schedule your 12-tote pickup near Wichita the same day.
Pickup chaining.
Your 12 + another seller's 18 + a third seller's 14 = a profitable run. We'll wait until we have three or four pickups in a corridor before scheduling.
Standing-route pickups.
If you generate 12+ empties every 4–6 weeks, we add you to a standing route. Same Tuesday of the month, every month. Predictable for both sides.
Seller-meets-truck.
If you're inside 90 minutes of Columbia, MO and want it gone yesterday, drive them to the yard. We'll pay you per the same tier, no freight deduction.
What to do before the truck shows up.
- Stage them in one place. Driver counts and loads from a single staging zone, not three corners of the yard.
- Empty completely. Drain the valve. Pop the top cap if there's any residual liquid. We can't take anything sloshing.
- Caps and valves closed. Reduces spillage and keeps rainwater out during transport.
- Pallet attached. If a tote separated from its pallet, mention it on the quote — we may bring extras.
- Have a forklift or pallet jack ready if you have one. We can hand-load up to 8 totes; beyond that, mechanical help speeds the pickup.
- Confirm prior contents in writing. Even an email with "all of these held [product]" is enough for our records.
- Identify access. Truck access, turning radius, overhead clearance. Photo of the staging area helps.
The paper trail your sustainability team gets.
For every pickup, we email a packet to whoever you specify. Standard contents:
- Bill of lading signed at your dock
- Unit count by grade
- Prior-contents declaration as received from you
- Disposition plan: reuse vs. recondition vs. recycle
- Payment record (ACH confirmation or check number)
- Optional ESG line-items: lb HDPE diverted, lb steel recovered, est. CO2e avoided vs new manufacture
What happens to your totes once we drive away.
Yard intake at Columbia, MO.
Every unit weighed in, photographed, and tagged with a serial that links back to your pickup BOL.
Grade-out.
Each tote sorted into the appropriate disposition lane: food-grade wash, industrial wash, rinse-only resale, fabrication candidate, or recycling.
Disposition action.
Wash bay, fabrication area, or recycling staging — depending on lane. All actions logged against your original pickup record.
Close-out packet.
Within 21 days of pickup, you receive the close-out: count by disposition, weight tickets where relevant, payment confirmation, and an ESG line-item summary if you asked for one.
What 12 totes actually keeps out of new manufacturing.
Questions sellers ask before the first email.
I have fewer than 12. Now what?
How fast can you actually get here?
What if I'm not sure what was in the tote?
Do I need a forklift on site?
How and when do I get paid?
Do you take stainless IBCs?
What if a tote has a tiny crack but is otherwise good?
I'm not the totes' original owner. Can I still sell?
Send a count, a zip, and a photo.
We'll quote within one business day and tell you the pickup window. No phone tag, no "account exec will call you back."