Cleaning a tote yourself
What you can do on site, and the limits of a 6-inch lid.
Service 02 · The wash line
Reconditioning
& washing
If you own your fleet, you do not need to buy containers — you need someone to make the ones you have fit to fill again. Our wash line does that on a per-unit basis with a documented record for each container.
Order desk
Book this in
Counts, ZIP and what the containers last held. That is enough for us to come back with a real number rather than a range.
The short answer
We recondition customer-owned IBC totes on a per-unit basis: interior wash to the level your product requires, exterior wash and de-labelling, cage straightening, valve rebuild or replacement, leak test and a written wash record per lot. Typical turnaround is three business days for stock quantities. Pricing runs $22–$78 per unit depending on wash level and the state they arrive in.
- Four wash levels, from triple rinse to hot caustic CIP with steam finish
- Cage squaring, weld repair and cold galvanising included in the rebuild tier
- Documented wash record per lot: method, temperature, chemistry, operator, date
- Collection and return on our own trucks anywhere we run
The four wash levels
| Level | Method | Removes | Indicative price |
|---|---|---|---|
| L1 — Triple rinse | Three ambient potable rinses, drained between | Water-soluble residues, dilute salts | $22–$32 |
| L2 — Hot detergent | 160 °F wash with alkaline detergent, spray ball, potable rinse | Light oils, soaps, sugars, most food residues | $34–$48 |
| L3 — Caustic CIP | Recirculating hot caustic, timed cycle, neutralising rinse | Heavy oils, adhesives, polymer films, set sugars | $48–$66 |
| L4 — Steam finish | L3 plus live steam with vented lid, controlled cooldown | Odour, biofilm, residual volatiles | $62–$78 |
The most common mistake is buying too much wash. If your next fill is the same product as the last fill, L1 is usually all you need and the rest is money spent on making a tote look nicer than it needs to. Tell us what came out and what goes in and we will specify the cheapest level that works.
Water, and why our wash line is not a drain
A wash line is the least green part of a recycling business if you run it carelessly. Ours runs on a three-stage recovery loop: the final rinse of one tote becomes the first rinse of the next, solids are settled and skimmed, and only the concentrated fraction leaves as trade effluent under permit.
- Fresh water per tote, L1
- ≈ 34 gal
- Fresh water per tote, L1 with recovery loop
- ≈ 11 gal
- Recovery rate across the line
- ≈ 68 %
- Rainwater contribution to wash feed
- ≈ 22 % annually
- Effluent
- Settled, skimmed, discharged under trade permit
- Recovered solids
- Rendered or landfilled per waste code
What you get back
- Every tote leak-tested at pressure with the valve both open and closed, and a lid seal check.
- New gasket as standard. Valves rebuilt where economic, replaced where not, and itemised either way.
- A written wash record per lot: method, temperature, chemistry and concentration, cycle time, operator initials and date.
- Photographs of any unit we rejected, with the reason, so you can argue with us if you disagree.
- Your own asset numbers preserved and re-stencilled if the wash removes them.
?Common questions
Questions people actually ask
Can you wash totes that held something aggressive?
Usually, but send the SDS first. There are products we will not put through the line at any price — anything that would contaminate the recovery loop, anything listed hazardous, and anything whose residue we cannot safely neutralise. We will tell you within an hour of seeing the sheet.
How many can you turn in a week?
The line runs about 260 units a week at L1–L2 and about 140 at L3–L4. Large fleets are scheduled in blocks so your units come back together rather than dribbling out.
Do you wash food grade totes?
Yes, on a segregated schedule at the start of a shift on a clean line, with potable feed water and a food-grade sanitiser. Food work never follows chemical work on the same day without a full line flush, and the record shows it.
Is it cheaper than buying reconditioned?
Almost always, if your cages are sound. A wash and rebuild at $34 against a $130 reconditioned purchase is not a close call. The maths only flips when your fleet is old enough that half of it fails inspection.
»Keep reading
When washing is not enough
Rebottling a sound cage costs less than you think.
See the wash line
A walk through the bays, the loop and the granulator.