At St. Louis IBC Recycle, we're proud of our 98% material recovery rate. But what does that actually mean in practice? When an IBC tote arrives that's truly beyond reconditioning — cracked bottle, severely corroded cage, or compromised by chemical damage — here's exactly what happens to every component.
The Decision Point
Not every IBC that looks rough is ready for recycling. Our assessment criteria for the recycling stream: - Bottle cracks that cannot be safely repaired - Chemical damage that's permeated the HDPE wall - UV degradation so severe that the plastic crumbles - Cage damage that makes reconditioning uneconomical - Contamination that cannot be cleaned to acceptable standards
If reconditioning is possible, we always choose reuse over recycling — it's better for the environment and the economy.
HDPE Bottle Recovery
The HDPE bottle represents 55-65 lbs of valuable plastic per IBC.
Step 1: Cleaning. Even end-of-life bottles are cleaned to remove residual contents. This ensures clean plastic flake/pellet output.
Step 2: Shredding. The bottle is fed into an industrial granulator that reduces it to 1/2-inch flakes.
Step 3: Washing. Plastic flakes are washed in a float/sink tank. Contaminants and label residue separate from the HDPE.
Step 4: Drying and packaging. Clean HDPE flakes are dried and packaged in supersacks for sale to plastic recyclers.
What it becomes: Recycled HDPE from IBC bottles is used to manufacture: - Drainage pipes and culverts - Plastic lumber (benches, decking, fencing) - New non-food containers - Automotive parts - Playground equipment - Compost bins and garden products
The recycled HDPE retains approximately 95% of the properties of virgin resin, making it suitable for most non-food applications.
Steel Cage Recovery
The galvanized steel cage weighs 55-70 lbs and is one of the easiest materials to recycle.
Process: Cages are cut into manageable sections using hydraulic shears, then baled with other ferrous scrap steel.
Where it goes: Steel scrap is sold to regional steel mills where it's melted in electric arc furnaces and reformed into new steel products.
Fun fact: Steel is infinitely recyclable with no loss of quality. The steel in an IBC cage could end up as part of a car, a bridge, a building, or another IBC cage.
Pallet Recovery
HDPE pallets: Ground into plastic flake and recycled alongside the bottle material.
Steel pallets: Cut and baled with cage steel.
Wood pallets: Repaired and returned to the pallet pool when possible. Damaged wood pallets are chipped for mulch or biomass fuel.
Small Components
Valves: Disassembled into metal and plastic components. Metal parts join the scrap stream. Plastic parts are sorted by type (HDPE, polypropylene, nylon) and recycled.
Gaskets: EPDM rubber gaskets are collected and sent to rubber recycling (typically ground into crumb rubber for athletic surfaces or asphalt modification).
Labels and adhesives: Removed during the washing process and filtered out as waste — this is the small fraction that does go to landfill.
The 2% That's Lost
Our 98% recovery rate means approximately 2% of incoming material cannot be economically recycled: - Adhesive residues from labels - Contaminated cleaning rags - Small mixed-material components that can't be economically separated - Heavily contaminated plastics that no recycler will accept
We're constantly working to reduce this number, but for now, 98% represents best-in-class performance for IBC recycling operations.
Environmental Comparison
Recycling one IBC saves: - 35-40 lbs of HDPE from landfill (400-1,000 year decomposition) - 55-70 lbs of steel from mining new iron ore - ~130 kg CO₂ vs. manufacturing new materials from virgin resources - Approximately 100 gallons of water vs. virgin material production