We pay for empties

Your empty totes are worth money. Please stop paying to throw them away.

Every week somebody in this region pays a disposal fee to put a perfectly sound intermediate bulk container into a landfill. It is the single most wasteful transaction in industrial logistics, it costs money in both directions, and it is trivially avoidable.

Short answer

We buy used IBC totes for $15–$85 per unit depending on grade, prior contents and quantity, and collect within about 150 miles of Norristown, PA for loads of twelve or more. Unsalvageable containers are taken for recycling rather than landfill.

We pay: $15 – $85 / unit
Collection radius: ≈150 miles
Minimum load: 12 units
Offer turnaround: Same business day

Work order · 90-second form

Get an offer for your empties

Quantity, prior contents and your zip are enough. Photos of a representative pallet get you a firm number instead of a range.

How it works

Five steps, and none of them involve a phone queue.

01
Send photos and a count
Use the form above. One photo of a representative pallet, one of a label, and the quantity. Prior contents matter more than appearance.
02
We grade from the photos
You get a written per-unit offer the same business day, banded by grade, with collection terms stated. No 'call us to discuss'.
03
We schedule a truck
Collections run weekly by corridor. Twelve units or more anywhere inside 150 miles; fewer if you are near an existing route.
04
Confirm at the dock
Our driver spot-checks against the photos. If the load grades as described, the offer stands unchanged — that is the whole point of grading from photos.
05
Payment or credit
Cash on collection terms, or credit against your next order. Most regular customers run it as credit and let the truck pay for itself both ways.

What drives the number

Why two identical-looking totes get different offers.

Published so you can improve your own number before we arrive — most of these cost nothing to fix.

Buy-back pricing factors
Factor	Best case	Worst case	Swing per unit	Can you fix it?
Prior contents	Documented food-grade	Unknown / unlabelled	±$40	Yes — keep the label on
Bottle condition	Clear, no odour	Cracked or crazed	±$30	No
Cage condition	Square, no node rust	Bowed or node cracking	±$20	Partly — handle gently
Valve & lid	Present, working	Missing	±$12	Yes — keep them attached
Storage	Indoors or covered	Outdoors, water inside	±$18	Yes — cover them
Quantity	Full truckload	Under 12	±$10	Yes — accumulate
Distance	Under 40 miles	Over 120 miles	±$8	No
Drained	Empty and dry	Residual heel	±$15	Yes — drain them

How grading works

Who sells to us

Chemical distributors clearing returned packaging. Food manufacturers with a syrup contract that ended. Breweries whose glycol supplier stopped taking containers back. Farms with a decade of accumulated nutrient totes behind the equipment shed. Contractors demobilising a site. Municipal yards clearing a salt-brine programme.

What they all have in common is that the containers are not their problem to solve and never were — they are an artefact of somebody else's packaging decision, sitting in the way, quietly accruing a disposal liability. We make that liability an asset in one truck movement.

Site clearances

For larger clearances — a plant closure, a distributor consolidating warehouses, a multi-year accumulation — we will come and inventory the yard ourselves, grade on site, and quote the whole thing as a single movement including any containers that need to go straight to granulation. That service is free if we win the load.

Typical collections, last twelve months
Seller type	Typical load	Grade mix	Outcome
Chemical distributor	80–240 units	B / C	Washed, rebottled, resold
Food manufacturer	20–60 units	A food-grade	Segregated, resold at premium
Brewery / cidery	8–24 units	A / B	Washed and resold locally
Farm / grower	10–40 units	C	Washed or granulated
Construction site	6–20 units	B / C	Washed for site-water resale
Municipal yard	15–50 units	B	Washed, returned to municipal buyers
Plant closure	150–600 units	Mixed	Full triage, on-site grading

Selling questions

Price, condition, collection.

Buy-back — FAQ

How much will you pay for my used IBC totes?

Between about $15 and $85 per unit in 2026, driven by grade, prior contents, quantity and how far we have to drive. Clean, cage-square totes with a documented benign prior product and a working valve sit at the top of that range. Totes with unknown contents, cage damage or heavy residue sit at the bottom — and we will still take them, because the alternative is that they end up in a landfill.

Do you charge to collect totes you won't pay for?

Generally no, if they are part of a load that includes saleable units. A pure load of scrap-condition containers may carry a modest processing charge, which will still be less than a disposal fee and considerably less than the reputational cost of landfilling them. We tell you the number in writing before the truck is booked.

How far will you travel to collect?

About 150 miles from Norristown as a standard radius — that covers Philadelphia, the Lehigh Valley, Harrisburg, Lancaster, York, all of New Jersey, Delaware, Baltimore and southern New York. Beyond that we run scheduled corridor trips, and for loads over about 60 units we will come considerably further.

What condition do totes need to be in?

Empty, drained, with the valve closed and the lid on. We do not require them to be clean — that is our job. What genuinely helps is keeping the prior product label attached and storing them out of the weather, because a tote that sat uncovered through a Pennsylvania winter with an inch of water in it grades a full step lower.

Can I trade empties against a purchase?

Yes, and most regular customers do. We credit your empties against your next order at the same rate we would pay in cash, which makes the freight movement pay for itself in both directions — our truck arrives loaded and leaves loaded.

Transport

How our trucks and corridors work, and what brokered long-haul costs.

Open

Recycling

What happens to the containers we buy that cannot be saved.

Open

Service area

The towns and corridors we collect from every week.

Open

Two stained and weathered used IBC totes in a yard, showing discoloured bottles and worn labels

The yard

We take the ones nobody else will

By the numbers

The figures behind this page.

$15–$85: paid per container; Driven by grade, prior contents, quantity and distance
≈150 mi: standard collection radius; ≈210 with a drop trailer
Same day: written offer; From photographs, Monday to Friday
$40: swing on prior contents alone; The single largest factor, and it is free to fix

Reference

The detail, in full.

Improve your own number before we arrive — what each habit is worth
Action	Cost to you	Worth per container	Why
Leave the original label attached	Nothing	up to $40	It is the provenance document
Drain fully and close the valve	Minutes	up to $15	A heel downgrades the grade
Keep the lid and cap on	Nothing	up to $12	Stops rainwater, debris and wasps
Store under cover	Space	up to $18	Weather destroys labels and freezes bottles
Accumulate to 12+ units	Patience	up to $10	Makes a truck movement sensible
Store on a level surface	Nothing	up to $8	Prevents cage rack-out
Sell in February rather than October	Timing	$12–$18	Regional supply peaks in autumn
Segregate by prior product	Minutes	$5–$25	Mixed pallets grade to the worst unit

What we take, and what we will not
Residue	Accepted	Terms
Food and beverage residues	Yes	Top of the payment band
Surfactants, detergent base	Yes	Standard rates
Glycols, coolants	Yes	Standard rates
Dilute acids and caustics	Yes, with SDS	Standard rates
Latex, emulsions, coatings	Yes	Lower band, heavy wash
Cutting and hydraulic fluids	Yes	Lower band
Liquid fertiliser, micronutrients	Yes	Standard rates
De-icing brine	Yes	Check cage nodes first
Pesticides, herbicides, biocides	No	Referred to a specialist processor
Oxidisers, peroxides	No	Referred
Aromatic and chlorinated solvents	No	Referred
Unknown with visible product, no SDS	No	Referred

Step by step

How this works in practice.

01
Photograph a representative pallet
One shot of the stack, one of a label, one of a cage corner. Three photographs and a count are enough for a banded offer the same business day.
02
Send prior contents, or say you do not know
Either is fine. Knowing costs you nothing and is worth up to $40 a container; not knowing caps the grade at C, which is what an unknown is worth.
03
Get the written offer
Per-unit, banded by grade, with collection terms and payment terms stated. No 'call us to discuss', because we do not have a phone.
04
We schedule a truck
Weekly by corridor. Twelve or more anywhere inside 150 miles; four to six if you sit on a route we already run.
05
Spot-check at the dock
Our driver checks the load against the photographs. If it grades as described, the offer stands unchanged — that is the point of grading from photographs in the first place.
06
Cash or credit
Payment on collection terms, or credit against your next order at the same rate. Most regular sellers run it as credit so the truck pays for itself in both directions.

Received wisdom, examined

Four things people believe that are wrong.

“Nobody wants damaged containers.”

We take cracked bottles, bowed cages, unlabelled units and containers that have stood behind a building since 2019. They are worth little as product and a great deal as feedstock, and taking them is most of why we can claim zero landfill honestly.

“Disposal is simpler than selling.”

It is one phone call versus one form, and it costs money in the wrong direction. Every week somebody in this region pays a tipping fee to bury a perfectly sound steel cage.

“You need a huge quantity to be worth collecting.”

Twelve units off-corridor; four on a route we already run. Below that we keep a waiting list by corridor and about 70% of loads we initially decline for size get collected within six weeks.

“Containers disappear because of theft.”

We traced 38 losses from a 200-container fleet: 42% were still at customer sites, 24% repurposed internally, 18% unidentified in the operator's own yard. Theft was 5%. Containers stop being anybody's responsibility, which looks identical on a spreadsheet.

Asked and answered.

Further questions

Do you charge if nothing in the load is saleable?

For a pure scrap load, there is a modest per-unit processing charge — always well below a landfill tipping fee, and stated in writing before a truck is booked. If the load includes saleable units, the value of those normally carries the processing cost of the rest at no charge to you.

Will you clear a whole site?

Yes, and it is some of our favourite work. For plant closures, distributor consolidations and multi-year accumulations we will inventory on site, grade in person and quote the whole movement including anything bound straight for granulation. That survey is free if we win the load.

How quickly do you pay?

Terms are stated on the offer and agreed before collection. Most sellers take credit against their next order, which settles immediately. Cash terms are typically net 15 from collection.

Can we set up a standing collection?

If you generate empties continuously, yes — and if you produce forty or more a month, ask about a drop trailer. One customer's grade mix went from 54% A/B to 79% simply because containers went into a dry trailer within a day instead of standing outside for three weeks. They received 49% more money for the same containers.

Go deeper

Twelve reference sheets, because you should not have to ask us for a number.

Specifications, grading definitions, prices, thread standards, flow rates, weights, gasket selection, wash chemistry, freight limits, circular-route arithmetic, failure modes and conversions. Open what you need; none of it is gated and none of it changes depending on who is asking.

Container specs16 rows

Every dimension for the two sizes that make up 93% of the market.

The two sizes that are 93% of the market
Attribute	275 gallon	330 gallon
Capacity	275 gal / 1,041 L	330 gal / 1,249 L
Footprint	48" × 40"	48" × 40"
Height	46"	53"
Tare weight	125–135 lb	140–155 lb
Gross, water	≈2,425 lb	≈2,900 lb
Max gross mass	2,800 lb	3,300 lb
Bottle mass	38–45 lb HDPE	45–52 lb HDPE
Cage + base mass	≈55 lb steel	≈62 lb steel
Stack, full	2 high	2 high
Stack, empty	4 high	4 high
Two-high stack height	92"	106"
Per 53′ van, volume	48	40
Per 53′ van, weight-limited	17 full	14 full
Fill opening	6" vented or solid	6" vented or solid
Discharge	2" butterfly, S60x6	2" butterfly, S60x6
Forklift entry	4-way	4-way

Grading standard10 rows

Our written definitions — the same ones printed on every quote.

Our written grading standard, in one table
	Grade A	Grade B	Grade C	Food grade
Wash	Documented	Documented	Rinse only	Documented + sanitise
Bottle	Clear–translucent	Light haze permitted	Heavy staining	Clear, odour-free
Odour	None	Faint, product-typical	May be present	None
Prior contents	Documented, benign	Documented	May be absent	Edible only, documented
Cage	Square, no node rust	Sound, cosmetic dings	Cosmetic damage OK	Sound
Gasket	New	New	As-is	New, FDA EPDM
Leak test	Passed, recorded	Passed, recorded	Not tested	Passed, recorded
Food contact	Only if food prior	No	Never	Yes
Price band, 275 gal	$165–$225	$110–$165	$60–$95	$225–$300
Share of our sales	18%	58%	17%	7%

2026 price bands8 rows

Published rather than extracted through a contact form.

2026 Mid-Atlantic price bands, 275 gallon
Type	Single unit	Pallet (4+)	Truckload (48)	Lead time
Grade C as-is	$60–$95	$56–$88	$52–$78	1–2 days
Grade B washed	$110–$165	$102–$152	$95–$140	1–3 days
Grade A rinsed	$165–$225	$153–$208	$140–$190	1–3 days
Food grade	$225–$300	$210–$278	$195–$260	2–5 days
Rebottled	$250–$340	$236–$316	$220–$295	3–7 days
New composite	$420–$560	$400–$530	$380–$500	5–15 days
Cage only	$35–$65	$32–$60	$30–$55	1–3 days
We pay you for empties	$15–$85	$20–$85	$28–$85	Collection ≤2 weeks

Threads & flow9 rows

Measured on our own line: full tote of water, vented lid, valve open.

Threads, adapters and gravity flow
Fitting	Specification	Initial flow	Time to empty 275 gal	Typical use
3" butterfly	3" flange, PP body	128 gpm	3.5 min	Batch dumping, viscous
2" butterfly	S60x6 outlet, EPDM seat	70 gpm	6.5 min	Standard discharge
2" camlock	S60x6 → 2″ male cam	62 gpm	7.2 min	Pump and transfer hose
2" NPT	S60x6 → 2″ male NPT	58 gpm	7.9 min	Rigid dosing plumbing
1" camlock	S60x6 → 1″ male cam	22 gpm	19.6 min	Drum filling, controlled
3/4" GHT	S60x6 → garden hose	9 gpm	45.8 min	Irrigation, wash-down
1/2" spigot	S60x6 → spigot	4 gpm	105 min	Hand filling, troughs
S60x6	60 mm OD, 6 mm pitch buttress	—	—	Modern standard outlet
S100x8	100 mm OD, 8 mm pitch	—	—	Legacy / EU — use a bushing

Weights by product10 rows

gallons × 8.34 × specific gravity + tare. The number people skip.

Gross weight by product — the calculation people skip
Product	SG	275 gal gross	330 gal gross	Stack?
Ethanol	0.79	1,940 lb	2,310 lb	Yes
Diesel / fuel oil	0.85	2,080 lb	2,480 lb	Yes — steel bin only
Vegetable oil	0.92	2,240 lb	2,670 lb	Yes
Water	1.00	2,425 lb	2,900 lb	Yes
Latex emulsion	1.05	2,540 lb	3,040 lb	With care
Brine 23%	1.20	2,880 lb	3,450 lb	No
Liquid fertiliser 28-0-0	1.28	3,065 lb	3,670 lb	No
Corn syrup 42 DE	1.33	3,180 lb	3,810 lb	No — partial fill
Sulphuric acid 50%	1.40	3,340 lb	4,000 lb	Partial fill
Sodium hydroxide 50%	1.52	3,615 lb	4,335 lb	Partial fill

Gasket selection10 rows

The cheapest decision in the specification, and the one most often wrong.

Gasket and wetted-part selection
Product family	Gasket	Valve body	Container	Avoid
Water, brine, glycol	EPDM	Polypropylene	Poly IBC	—
Dilute acids	EPDM	Polypropylene	Poly IBC	Brass, carbon steel
Caustics	EPDM	Polypropylene	Poly IBC	Aluminium
Alcohols under 20% ABV	EPDM	Polypropylene	Poly IBC	—
Alcohols over 20% ABV	Viton	Stainless	Stainless bin	Poly bottles
Vegetable and mineral oils	Viton	Polypropylene	Poly IBC	EPDM gaskets
Fuels, diesel, kerosene	Viton	PP or stainless	Steel bin	Poly bottles
Aromatic solvents	Viton	Stainless	316L bin	All poly parts
Food ingredients	EPDM (FDA)	PP (FDA)	Food-grade poly	Non-FDA elastomers
Flavour, essence, botanical	Viton	Stainless	316L bin	Poly bottles

Wash cycles8 rows

The cycle follows the residue. A default cycle is how you get a clean-looking tote that smells.

Wash cycle by residue class
Residue	Cycle	Temp	Chemistry	Water	Cost	Outcome
Water-soluble benign	Cold triple rinse	Ambient	None	22 gal	$18–$28	Grade A/B
Sugars, syrups	Hot caustic + sanitise	148–156 °F	1.5% NaOH	45 gal	$35–$55	Food grade if prior allows
Proteins	Hot caustic + sanitise	150–158 °F	2% NaOH	48 gal	$40–$58	Food grade if prior allows
Oils, fats	Degrease + hot rinse	135–150 °F	Alkaline surfactant	52 gal	$45–$70	Grade A/B
Surfactants	Extended rinse + defoam	Ambient–120 °F	Defoamer	40 gal	$30–$48	Grade B only
Latex, emulsions	Mechanical + strip	125–140 °F	Alkaline	50 gal	$50–$75	Grade B/C
Acids, caustics	Neutralise + rinse	Ambient	Counter-agent	35 gal	$32–$50	Grade B
Unknown	Triple rinse, downgrade	Ambient	None	22 gal	$20–$30	Grade C only

Freight limits8 rows

Volume capacity and weight capacity are different numbers, and weight wins.

What fits on what — volume and weight limits
Vehicle	Full, 2 high	Weight-limited full	Empty, 4 high	Liftgate
53′ dry van	48	17	96	No
48′ flatbed	40	17	80	No
26′ box truck	24	8	48	Yes
16′ box truck	12	5	24	Yes
Sprinter van	4	2	8	Yes
20′ sea container	20	17	40	No
40′ sea container	42	17	84	No
Drop trailer, 53′	48	17	96	No

Circular routes7 rows

Ranked by burden avoided. Landfill is not on the list.

The seven circular routes, ranked by burden avoided
#	Route	CO₂e avoided	Water avoided	% of new-unit burden	Share of intake
1	Reuse as-is after rinse	88 kg	190 gal	100%	60.9%
2	Wash and return to service	83 kg	163 gal	94%	22.3%
3	Rebottle	55 kg	118 gal	62%	6.0%
4	Salvage cage for another unit	36 kg	76 gal	41%	3.0%
5	Upcycle into a built product	31 kg	66 gal	35%	0.9%
6	Granulate to HDPE regrind	30 kg	62 gal	34%	6.9%
7	Landfill	0 kg	0 gal	0%	0%

Failure modes8 rows

What actually retires a container and where each one goes afterwards.

What actually retires a container, and whether it is fixable
Failure	Where it starts	Share of retirements	Fixable?	Route
Bottle stress cracking	Base radius	41%	No	Granulate bottle, keep cage
Freeze split	Mid-height, at the old liquid line	16%	No	Granulate bottle, keep cage
Contamination beyond wash	Absorbed into the wall	14%	No	Granulate bottle, keep cage
Bottle deformation	Whole wall, from overfill or heat	11%	No	Rebottle
Cage node corrosion	Welded intersections, corner columns	10%	Sometimes	Mill the steel
Missing prior-contents record	Paperwork, not the container	8%	No	Grade C only
Base rail damage	Fork pockets	—	Yes, on steel	Repair or replace base
Gasket failure	Outlet and lid seals	—	Always	Replace, $4

Delivery corridors7 rows

If you sit on a route we already run, small loads become viable.

Scheduled corridors from 800 River Rd
Corridor	Key stops	Frequency	Minimum load	Buy-back
I-76 West	Conshohocken, King of Prussia, Reading, Harrisburg	2× weekly	4 units	Yes
I-95 South	Philadelphia, Chester, Wilmington, Baltimore	2× weekly	4 units	Yes
I-95 North	Trenton, New Brunswick, Newark, Elizabeth	Weekly	6 units	Yes
NE Extension	Lansdale, Quakertown, Allentown, Bethlehem	Weekly	6 units	Yes
US-30 West	West Chester, Downingtown, Lancaster, York	Weekly	6 units	Yes
US-202 North	Doylestown, New Hope, Flemington	Weekly	4 units	Yes
Delmarva	Dover, Salisbury, Easton	Fortnightly	10 units	By arrangement

Conversions12 rows

The arithmetic that comes up daily.

Conversions used every day in this yard
From	To	Multiply by	Worked example
US gallons	Litres	3.785	275 gal = 1,041 L
Litres	US gallons	0.2642	1,000 L = 264 gal
US gallons of water	Pounds	8.34	275 gal = 2,294 lb
Pounds	Kilograms	0.4536	2,425 lb = 1,100 kg
Inches	Millimetres	25.4	48" = 1,219 mm
Cubic feet	US gallons	7.481	51 ft³ = 381 gal
Cubic yards	Cubic feet	27	1.4 yd³ = 37.8 ft³
psi	Feet of head (water)	2.31	1.7 psi = 3.9 ft
Feet of head	psi	0.433	24 in stand = 0.87 psi
gpm	Litres per minute	3.785	70 gpm = 265 L/min
kg CO₂e	Miles not driven	2.5	88 kg = 220 miles
kg CO₂e	Mature trees, one year	0.0476	88 kg = 4.2 trees

Vocabulary, in twelve lines

IBC: Intermediate bulk container — anything between a drum and a tanker, in practice 110–550 gallons on a forkliftable base.
Composite IBC: An HDPE bottle inside a welded steel cage on a pallet base. The 275 and 330 gallon workhorses.
Tare: Empty weight of the container: 125–135 lb for a 275, 140–155 lb for a 330.
Gross mass: Container plus contents. Most 275s are rated to 2,800 lb; exceed it and the bottle bulges rather than bursts.
Node: A welded intersection in the cage where load actually transfers. The correct place to inspect.
S60x6: The standard outlet thread: 60 mm OD, 6 mm pitch buttress. Hand tight only.
Prior contents: What the container last held, logged against the original label. The single most consequential fact about any used tote.
Rebottle: A new HDPE bottle fitted into an inspected existing cage — virgin interior, 38% less embodied carbon than new.
Food grade: FDA-compliant resin plus an edible-only prior history plus a documented wash. All three, together.
UN 31HA1: Marking for a composite IBC approved for liquids. Belongs to the assembly and carries a service life.
Regrind: Granulated recycled HDPE. Post-industrial IBC regrind goes to pipe, conduit, pallets — never food contact.
Avoided burden: Environmental cost that did not occur because a container was reused instead of manufactured. Not an offset.

All 58 terms

The yard, in numbers

18,412: containers returned to service, rolling 12 months
91.9%: of intake leaves as a container, not as feedstock
1.62M kg: CO₂e avoided against a new-container baseline
543,000 lb: HDPE granulated into clean regrind in 2025
318,000 lb: steel baled to a regional mill in 2025
0 yd³: container material landfilled — six consecutive years
2,600: containers on the ground at the January peak
11%: of offered loads refused, and referred on
22: people at the Norristown yard, four of them drivers
6: states served by our own trucks

Where and when

IBC Totes PA LLC
800 River Rd
Norristown, PA 19406
hello@ibctotespa.com
quotes@ibctotespa.com
No telephone line — written quotes only.

Opening hours
Mon	7:00 AM – 4:30 PM
Tue	7:00 AM – 4:30 PM
Wed	7:00 AM – 4:30 PM
Thu	7:00 AM – 4:30 PM
Fri	7:00 AM – 4:30 PM
Sat	8:00 AM – 12:00 PM
Sun	Closed

Next step

Every tote we keep alive is one that never gets made.

Get a written quote Sell us your empties

Your empty totes are worth money. Please stop paying to throw them away.

Five steps, and none of them involve a phone queue.

Send photos and a count

We grade from the photos

We schedule a truck

Confirm at the dock

Payment or credit

Why two identical-looking totes get different offers.

Who sells to us

Site clearances

Price, condition, collection.

Buy-back — FAQ

Transport

Recycling

Service area

The figures behind this page.

The detail, in full.

How this works in practice.

Photograph a representative pallet

Send prior contents, or say you do not know

Get the written offer

We schedule a truck

Spot-check at the dock

Cash or credit

Four things people believe that are wrong.

Asked and answered.

Further questions

Related reading.

Why drop trailers change the maths

What we pay, in full

Are you on a corridor?

Twelve reference sheets, because you should not have to ask us for a number.

Every tote we keep alive is one that never gets made.