Chapter 04 · grade scale A–C

A grade is a promise, not a mood.

We publish our entire grading system because a grade without written criteria is just an opinion with a price tag. Nineteen inspection points, three grades, fixed thresholds, one card per unit, kept on file for seven years. If we sell you an A and you receive a B, the freight home is ours.

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Tell us the grade you want and what the cargo is. If a lower grade would genuinely do the job, we will say so.

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01 / THE THREE GRADES

What each one guarantees

Plain-language definitions

A4–8 remaining

Washed, like new

General industrial, many food applications with food history

Clear or near-clear bottle with no interior scoring, no stress whitening at the corners, square cage with no broken welds, clean undamaged threads, new gasket, and a legible or re-markable UN stamp. Passes leak test at first attempt.

B3–6 remaining

Washed, cosmetic wear

General industrial — our best value by a wide margin

Structurally sound and leak-tested, with cosmetic staining, light interior haze, scuffed or slightly out-of-square cage, replaced valve or minor pallet repair. Everything that matters works; it simply does not photograph well.

CWater service only

Non-potable service

Jobsite water, dust suppression, irrigation, rain capture, upcycled builds

Sound enough to hold water but not sold for cargo. Heavy staining, interior scoring, stress whitening, or a cargo history that rules out reuse. Priced accordingly and honestly labelled.

There is a fourth outcome that is not a grade: condemned. A condemned unit has failed a critical point and will be rebottled or sent to resin recovery. Condemned units are never sold as Grade C — that would make the whole scale meaningless.

02 / INSPECTION

The bench

The nineteen inspection points

Every unit is scored against all nineteen. A single critical fail condemns the unit regardless of how the other eighteen score.
#	Point	What we look for	Critical fail?
01	Prior cargo declaration	Present, written, legible, specific	Yes
02	Residual liquid	Any volume at all	Yes
03	Odour after wash	Fixed odour detectable by trained nose	Yes
04	Bottle corner whitening	Chalky stress patches at the four lower corners	No
05	Interior scoring	Gouges and scratches that hold residue	No
06	Interior crazing	Fine surface cracking, usually solvent related	Yes
07	Bottle bulge or deformation	Over-pressure or heat history	Yes
08	Wall thickness spot check	Below design minimum at thinnest point	Yes
09	Dome port condition	Thread damage, flange flatness	No
10	Outlet port threads	Cross-threading, chipping, ovality	Yes if cross-threaded
11	Valve function	Full open, full close, no weep	No, replaceable
12	Gasket condition	Compression set, swelling, bloom	No, replaceable
13	Cage squareness	Deviation along the top rail	No, pressable
14	Cage weld integrity	Cracks at tube intersections	Yes
15	Cage coating	Galvanising loss, surface rust extent	No
16	Pallet condition	Cracked feet, split boards, rot, corrosion	No, replaceable
17	Forklift pocket integrity	Deformation or tearing	No
18	UN marking legibility	All characters readable, date present	No, re-markable
19	Leak test	Air pressure hold per our procedure	Yes

03 / THRESHOLDS

No discretion

What drops a unit from A to B

Exact thresholds, so a grade means the same thing in January and in August.
Observation	Threshold	Result
Exterior staining	Visible but no interior effect	A → B
Interior haze	Uniform cloudiness, no scoring	A → B
Corner whitening	Any visible chalky patch	A → B
Cage out of square	More than 1 in along top rail	A → B
Replaced valve	Any non-original valve	A → B
Pallet repaired	Any foot or board replacement	A → B
Interior scoring	Any gouge you can feel with a fingernail	B → C
Prior cargo class	Surfactant, terpene or flavour history	Any → C or scrap
Illegible UN stamp	Date or code unreadable, not re-markable	Any → non-regulated
Crazing, bulge, broken weld, crossed thread	Any	Condemned — rebottle or recover

04 / POLICY

Our regrade and return policy

If a delivered unit does not match the grade on its card, email us a photograph. We will either credit the difference or collect the unit and replace it, and we pay the freight in both directions. There is no form to fill in and no restocking charge, because the fault is ours.

Why we wrote this down in 2013

Early on, “Grade A” meant whoever loaded the truck liked the look of it. Two disputed loads in 2012 taught us that this was untenable, and the first laminated inspection sheet followed in 2013. The current nineteen-point version dates from 2019 and cut regrade disputes by roughly four fifths. The story is on our history page.

The same scale works in reverse

When we buy your empties, we grade them against exactly these criteria. That is why the buyback price factors read like a mirror image of this page — because they are one.

C / COMPATIBILITY

Will HDPE hold it?

Sixteen cargo families, rated

HDPE is brilliant at most things and hopeless at a few. Where the answer is C, we will point you at stainless rather than sell you a container that will craze.

A = suitable, B = suitable with limits, C = not recommended in a composite IBC. Guidance only — verify against your own concentration and temperature.
Cargo family	HDPE	Seat	Notes
Water, potable and non-potable	A	EPDM / silicone	Food-history units for potable
Acids and caustics, aqueous	A	EPDM / PTFE	Vent fuming cargo
Liquid fertiliser, UAN, NPK	A	EPDM	SG up to 1.32 — check your lift-gate
Brine and chloride de-icer	A	EPDM	Hard on galvanising, kind to HDPE
Food syrups, oils, concentrates	A	Silicone / Viton	Documented food history only
Glycols	A	EPDM	Very common; SG 1.04–1.11
Alcohols	A	Viton / PTFE	Flammable — bond and vent
Diesel and gas oil	B	Viton / NBR	Permeates slowly over long storage
Mineral spirits	B	Viton	Swells HDPE slowly
Surfactants and detergents	B	EPDM	Odour fixation risk — dedicate units
Latex, adhesives, water-based paint	A	EPDM	Cures if left. Wash promptly.
Ketones, aromatics, chlorinated solvents	C	—	Crazes HDPE. Stainless only.
Gasoline and low-conductivity fuels	C	—	Static risk. Steel or stainless.
Essential oils, flavour concentrates	C	—	Fixes into the wall permanently. Never.
Hydrogen peroxide above 10%	C	—	Decomposition and pressure risk
Dairy and hot-fill above 140 °F	C	—	Needs CIP and steam. Stainless.

Permeation

Small non-polar molecules pass slowly through HDPE rather than attacking it. The bottle looks perfect and your cargo quietly leaves. It is a storage-duration problem: diesel for a week is fine, diesel for a year is not.

Crazing

Ketones, aromatics and chlorinated solvents cause fine surface cracking that propagates under stress. It is invisible until you hold the wall against a raking light, and it is a critical grading failure.

Odour fixation

Terpenes and some surfactants dissolve into the polymer itself rather than sitting on the surface. No wash removes them. This is why a food-grade tote has to have been a food tote from new.

A wide aisle inside the warehouse with IBC totes stacked on both sides and a roller door open at the far end — Compatibility decides where a container can go next. Everything in this aisle carries a written cargo history.

D / ORDERING

Commercial terms, up front

Lead times, minimums and what happens when it goes wrong

Discovering these at invoice stage is nobody's idea of a good relationship, so they are published.

Published so nothing arrives as a surprise at invoice stage. Prices themselves move weekly with resin, scrap steel and freight, which is why we do not publish a list.
Item	Detail
Minimum order	One unit. No account minimum, no membership.
Stock lead time	Grade A and B 275 gal usually ship the same week
Rebottled lead time	2–3 weeks, built to order in bay D
Food-grade lead time	1–3 weeks when stock exists; supply-dependent
Full truckload	45 on a 48 ft flat, 48 in a 53 ft van, 90 empties double-stacked
Payment, first order	Prepay by ACH or card
Payment, established	Net 30 on credit approval
Grade guarantee	Regrade or replace, our freight both ways, 14 days
Leak warranty	30 days from delivery, normal atmospheric service
Cancellation	Free until the truck is loaded
Returns	14 days on unused stock units, freight at your cost
Sales tax	Indiana resale certificates and out-of-state equivalents accepted

F / END OF LIFE

Reuse first, recycle last

What happens when the container is finally finished

Every unit that arrives is assessed down this list, in this order. 99.4% of incoming mass avoided landfill in 2024, and reuse plus repair accounted for over three quarters of it.

Assessed in this order, per unit, every time. The granulator is the fourth choice, not the first. 2024 figures against 2,994,000 lb of inbound mass.
Step	Outcome	Share of mass	Cost to us
01	Reuse as is — wash and redeploy	63.9%	11 gal of mostly reclaimed water
02	Repair and reuse — valve, gasket, pallet, cage	11.4%	Parts and bench time
03	Rebottle — new bottle, reclaimed steel	9.6%	A new bottle, two thirds of mass retained
04	Upcycle — rain kits, grow beds, wash stations	3.2%	Fabrication time
05	Material recovery — HDPE regrind, steel, wood	11.3%	Grinding, washing, drying energy
06	Residual to licensed disposal	0.6%	Sludge, gasket rubber, fasteners, laminates

Stacks of used IBC totes under a clear blue sky on the gravel pad, awaiting grading — Inbound. Nothing comes off the trailer before its cargo declaration is read.

Mixed white and black IBC totes staged beside the loading dock doors — Graded and sorted. Black bottles are UV-stable units destined for outdoor service.

A wide field of IBC totes standing on grass under a blue sky, waiting to be collected — Recovered from a customer yard. Every one of these avoided a crusher.

A / SPECIFICATION

Reference

Dimensions, fittings and seat materials

The three tables people actually need before ordering. Full versions, with pallet footprints, metric conversions and sixty-plus cargo entries, live in the size guide.

A reconditioned 275 gallon caged composite IBC tote on a black plastic pallet, showing the galvanised cage, the moulded HDPE bottle, the red discharge valve and the six-inch fill cap — A single 275 gallon unit off the outbound pad. Galvanised tubular cage, blow-moulded HDPE bottle, 2 in S60x6 outlet, six-inch vented fill cap.

Rows of IBC totes stacked two and three high on pallets inside the Indianapolis warehouse — Graded stock under roof, staged two and three high. Loaded units never stack more than two, and never while warm.

Nominal figures. Gross weight assumes water at 8.34 lb/gal — multiply by your cargo's specific gravity, then check it against the maximum permitted gross mass on the unit's own marking.
Capacity	Litres	Footprint	Height	Tare	Gross (water)	Stack loaded
275 gal	1,041	48 × 40 in	46 in	≈140 lb	≈2,435 lb	2 high
330 gal	1,249	48 × 40 in	53 in	≈155 lb	≈2,905 lb	2 high
350 gal	1,325	48 × 40 in	56 in	≈165 lb	≈3,075 lb	2 high
120 gal	454	40 × 32 in	38 in	≈95 lb	≈1,095 lb	2 high
180 gal	681	42 × 36 in	42 in	≈115 lb	≈1,616 lb	2 high
550 gal	2,082	60 × 48 in	60 in	≈240 lb	≈4,830 lb	1 high

B / FITTINGS

What threads onto it

Fittings, threads and seat materials

S60x6 is a buttress thread that seals against a flat gasket face, not on the thread flanks. It is not interchangeable with NPT — forcing one into the other is the commonest hidden fault in used containers.
Fitting	Size	Seals by	Seat options	Typical service
S60x6 butterfly valve	2 in	Flat gasket face	EPDM, Viton, PTFE	The standard IBC outlet
S70x6 butterfly valve	2 in	Flat gasket face	EPDM, Viton	European and some 330 gal units
2 in NPT ball valve, poly	2 in	Thread flanks + tape	EPDM, Viton	Retrofits, metered dispensing
2 in NPT ball valve, stainless	2 in	Thread flanks + tape	PTFE	Solvents, pressure, hot cargo
3 in butterfly valve	3 in	Flat gasket face	EPDM, Viton	Viscous cargo, high flow
6 in fill cap	6 in	Gasketed lid	EPDM, silicone	Vented or solid — choose deliberately
Camlock adapter, type C	1.5 / 2 in	Cam arms + gasket	Buna, Viton	Repeated connect / disconnect
Bulkhead tap	3/4 in	Both-side gaskets	Brass, poly	Rain kits, site water

The valve body rarely fails. The seat does, and it is chosen by cargo rather than by price. Always verify against your specific concentration and temperature.
Material	Good with	Avoid with	Temperature	Cost
EPDM	Water, acids, caustics, brine, ag-chem	Oils, fuels, aromatics	-40 to 250 °F	Low
Viton (FKM)	Solvents, oils, fuels, aromatics	Ketones, amines, hot steam	-15 to 400 °F	High
Nitrile (NBR)	Oils, diesel, greases, hydraulics	Ozone, strong oxidisers	-30 to 250 °F	Low
PTFE envelope	Almost all chemistry, high purity	Needs very flat flange faces	-100 to 450 °F	High
Silicone	Food contact, wide temperature	Solvents, abrasion	-60 to 450 °F	Medium

E / GRADING

A grade is a promise, not a mood

How every unit is scored

We publish the whole system because a grade without written criteria is just an opinion with a price tag. Nineteen points, fixed thresholds, one card per unit, seven years on file.

Every unit is scored against all nineteen. A single critical failure condemns the unit regardless of how the other eighteen score.
#	Point	Critical?
01	Prior cargo declaration — present, written, specific	Yes
02	Residual liquid — any volume at all	Yes
03	Odour after wash — fixed odour by trained nose	Yes
04	Bottle corner stress whitening	No
05	Interior scoring you can feel	No
06	Interior crazing — fine surface cracking	Yes
07	Bottle bulge or deformation	Yes
08	Wall thickness at the thinnest point	Yes
09	Dome port condition and flange flatness	No
10	Outlet threads — cross-threading, chipping	Yes if crossed
11	Valve function, full open and close	No, replaceable
12	Gasket condition — compression set, bloom	No, replaceable
13	Cage squareness along the top rail	No, pressable
14	Cage weld integrity at tube intersections	Yes
15	Cage coating and galvanising loss	No
16	Pallet condition — cracked feet, rot, corrosion	No, replaceable
17	Forklift pocket integrity	No
18	UN marking legibility and date	No, re-markable
19	Leak test under our procedure	Yes

G / PITFALLS

Learned the expensive way

Five mistakes that cost people money

Not hypothetical. Each of these has arrived in our inbox, usually more than once.

Ordering a 330 without measuring the ceiling
A 275 and a 330 share a footprint; the 330 is seven inches taller. Two 330s stacked is 110 inches against 96 for two 275s, and most sprinkler regimes want eighteen inches of clearance below the deflector. That seven inches is frequently the whole margin.
Forcing an NPT fitting into an S60x6 port
Both are roughly two inches, so it bites and feels tight. It is not sealing, it is chewing the buttress thread. The joint weeps two days later, usually in transit, and cross-threading is one of the few faults that condemns an otherwise perfect bottle.
Reusing a flange gasket
A gasket is a one-use part the moment it has taken a compression set. Reusing one is the cause of most 'the new valve still leaks' emails we get. They cost a couple of dollars. Keep a box at the fill point.
Specifying a solid lid on a tote that sees sun
Sealed container, rising temperature, nowhere for the expansion to go. The bottle bulges between the cage bars and does not fully return. A vented lid is the cheapest risk control in this industry.
Ignoring specific gravity
A full 275 of water is 2,435 lb. The same tote of UAN 32 is 3,168 lb, and a 330 is 3,785 lb. Plenty of lift-gates are rated at 2,500 or 3,000 lb, and the rating assumes a centred load.

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