Tote fundamentals
What an IBC actually is, the anatomy of bottle, cage and pallet, sizes, and how the 275 and 330 gallon totes differ.
Start with the basics →Resource Hub
Know your totes inside out.
Specs, expert guides and straight answers — so you buy the right reused tote the first time, and keep it in service for years.
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Three ways to get tote-smart.
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Six clusters that cover the whole tote lifecycle.
However you found us — first-time buyer, facilities manager, or backyard rainwater hobbyist — the answers fall into a handful of clusters. Pick the one closest to your question and follow the links into the deeper guides, specs and FAQ.
Choosing & buying
Grade A vs. Grade B, new vs. reconditioned vs. rebottled, and how to match a tote to your exact job.
Shop used totes →Safety & compatibility
Food-grade rules, prior-contents history, chemical compatibility with HDPE, and venting and handling basics.
Food-grade vs industrial →Regulations & UN/DOT
When you need a UN 31HA1/Y rated tote, what the markings mean, and where reconditioned units fit.
See the FAQ →Use & maintenance
Cleaning between fills, swapping valves and gaskets, winterizing, stacking safely and extending tote life.
Reconditioning guide →Reuse & sustainability
The carbon, water and plastic math of reusing a tote instead of buying new — with a live calculator.
See the impact →A guided path
New to totes? Take the five-step route.
If you only have ten minutes, do these in order. By the end you'll know exactly which tote to ask us for — and you'll have a quote on the way.
Plain-English glossary
Tote terms, decoded.
The tote world has its own vocabulary. Here are the terms you'll meet most often when buying, selling or reconditioning — defined the way we'd explain them over the counter.
IBC
Intermediate bulk container — a reusable, forkliftable tank holding roughly 110–550 gallons. Our world is the 275 and 330 gallon HDPE-in-steel-cage type.
HDPE
High-density polyethylene — the tough, translucent plastic the bottle is blow-molded from. It's food-safe, chemical-resistant and fully recyclable.
Grade A / food-grade
A tote whose bottle only ever held FDA-approved edible contents and was triple-rinsed and sanitized. The only grade we'd put near potable water.
Grade B / industrial
A washed tote for non-potable work — rainwater, brine, compost tea, dust control. Same rugged container, lower price.
Rebottled
A brand-new HDPE bottle dropped into a reused, inspected steel cage — new-tote cleanliness while still reusing the carbon-heavy steel.
Cage & pallet
The welded tubular-steel frame and integrated base. Pallets come in steel, composite or plastic, all rated for 4-way forklift entry.
UN 31HA1/Y
The UN/DOT marking on a tote rated to ship liquids, including certain regulated goods. The 'Y' denotes a medium-hazard packing-group rating.
Specific gravity
How heavy a liquid is versus water. Multiply gallons × 8.34 × specific gravity to estimate fill weight before you stack.
Want the long version of any term? It's almost certainly covered in our guides, the Tote Journal blog, or the FAQ.
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All guides →Read up on reuse.
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