Services · Reconditioning & Rebottling

Reconditioning & Rebottling

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US or Canada only, 10 digits — e.g. (718) 555-0142

US ZIP (11105) or Canadian (M5V 2T6)

No phone calls — we're an email-first yard, so you get everything in writing. Typical reply time is under one business day. We never sell or share your details; see our privacy policy.

Process

How it runs

6 steps, start to finish.

Our certified refurbishment line: wash, inspect, repair, retest, re-plate, reissue.

  1. 01

    Intake and triage

    Prior contents verified against the declaration. Anything undeclared goes to quarantine, not to the wash bay.

  2. 02

    Wash

    Caustic or detergent depending on the residue, hot rinse, and a final rinse we actually test rather than assume.

  3. 03

    Inspect

    Wall thickness at four points, weld integrity, foot squareness, collar and outlet threads, cage geometry against a jig.

  4. 04

    Repair or rebottle

    New valve, lid and gasket as standard. A failed bottle means a new bottle, not a patched one — we do not repair bottles.

  5. 05

    Test

    Leakproofness at 20 kPa for the required hold. Recorded against the serial, not against the batch.

  6. 06

    Mark and release

    Fresh UN plate where the design type allows, a wash certificate, and photographs of the interior.

Detail

Reconditioning versus rebottling

They are not the same job and the difference is entirely about the bottle. Reconditioning keeps the original bottle: wash, inspect, replace hardware, test, re-mark. Rebottling replaces it with a brand-new one and keeps the reclaimed cage.

Rebottle when the bottle has failed, when permeation history rules out reuse, or when a customer specification demands virgin resin. Recondition in every other case — it is cheaper and it is the better environmental outcome, because a new bottle still costs 17 kg of virgin HDPE.

What we replace as standard

Valve, lid and gasket, on every unit, every time. They are the three parts that fail in service and they are cheap relative to the cost of a leak on someone's dock. We do not repair bottles — a bottle that has failed gets replaced, not patched, because a patched bottle fails again somewhere less convenient.

Testing against serials, not batches

Every unit gets a leakproofness test at 20 kPa and the result is recorded against that container's serial number. Batch testing is common in this trade and it is close to meaningless — it tells you that some containers in a group held pressure, not that yours did.

Your own units

Send us your fleet and get it back requalified in five to eight working days. If you want that as a standing arrangement rather than a one-off, that is fleet management.

Questions

Frequently asked questions

Reconditioning & Rebottling, answered.

The five things people ask us most before starting this service.

What is the difference between reconditioning and rebottling?

Reconditioning keeps the original bottle — wash, inspect, replace hardware, test, re-mark. Rebottling drops a brand-new bottle into the reclaimed, re-certified cage.

When should I choose rebottling instead?

When the bottle has failed, when permeation history rules out reuse, or when a customer specification demands virgin resin. Otherwise reconditioning is cheaper and the better environmental outcome.

What parts do you replace as standard?

Valve, lid and gasket, on every unit, every time. Those are the three parts that fail in service, and they are cheap next to a leak on somebody's dock.

Do you repair damaged bottles?

No. A bottle that has failed gets replaced rather than patched, because a patched bottle fails again somewhere far less convenient.

Can you requalify totes I already own?

Yes. Send us your fleet and it comes back requalified in five to eight working days, with leakproofness recorded against each container's serial rather than by batch.

Ready to start reconditioning & rebottling?

Use the floating button on any page, or fill in the form at the top of this one. Either way you get a written answer within one business day.

Contact us
Incoming yard of mixed-condition used IBC totes in varying colours awaiting triage and grading
Intake: before anything is graded