The IBC tote glossary, in plain English.
Every term we get asked about. If something on a quote you got from us (or somebody else) doesn't make sense, this is where to start.
Term we should add?
Same form, every page. Tell us what you've got or what you need; we send a real quote (not a sales drip).
- Bottle
- The HDPE inner container of a caged composite IBC. Typically 38–46 lb.
- Cage
- The galvanized steel grid surrounding the bottle. Protects against forklifts and supports stack loads.
- Caged composite
- The standard IBC tote build: HDPE bottle + steel cage + pallet.
- Camlock (cam-and-groove)
- A quick-connect coupling. Type C is the most common female adapter for IBC outlets.
- CIP
- Clean-in-place. A rinse-recirculation system, usually with a spray ball, that washes a vessel without disassembly.
- EPDM
- Ethylene propylene diene monomer. The default IBC gasket material. Good for water, dilute aqueous chemistry, food.
- Food-grade reconditioned
- An IBC tote whose first life held an FDA-approved food contact substance, that has passed our 7-step caustic + sanitizing wash, and that re-tests clean on inspection.
- FTL
- Full truckload. A dedicated 53' dry van; fits 36 IBCs single-stacked or 72 double-stacked.
- Granulator
- A rotating-knife shredder that reduces HDPE bottles to ~30 mm flake.
- HDPE
- High-density polyethylene. The plastic that IBC tote bottles are made of. Recyclable; resin code #2.
- IBC
- Intermediate bulk container. The whole class of 100–550-gal stackable industrial containers.
- LTL
- Less-than-truckload. Shared freight; pallet-based pricing.
- Manway
- A hinged opening, typically 18" or 22", on stainless IBC tops. For inspection and CIP installation.
- NPT
- National pipe tapered thread. American standard pipe thread, common in plumbing.
- Pellet (regrind)
- Granulated, washed, and re-extruded HDPE. The output of our recycling line.
- PTFE
- Polytetrafluoroethylene (Teflon). The most chemically inert gasket material; used for solvents.
- Rebottled
- An IBC tote with a brand-new HDPE bottle inside a reconditioned cage and pallet.
- Reconditioned
- A used IBC tote that has been washed, re-gasketed, leak tested, and (where applicable) UN re-certified.
- S60×6
- The 2" buttress thread on standard IBC outlets and tops. The default.
- Tare
- Empty weight of the tote (bottle + cage + pallet, no liquid).
- Tri-clamp
- Sanitary stainless coupling, common in food, beverage, pharma. The default for stainless IBCs.
- UN31HA1/Y
- United Nations rating for a composite IBC for liquids of medium hazard packing group II. The 'Y' refers to packing group.
- UN31A/Y
- UN rating for a metal IBC (stainless or steel). 'Y' = packing group II.
- Viton
- FKM fluoroelastomer. Gasket material for oils and aggressive chemistry.
- Wash log
- The per-batch document we keep for every tote that goes through our wash bay. Includes prior contents, wash protocol, leak test result, and operator initials.
- Backhaul
- A return-leg load on a truck that would otherwise return empty. Backhauling is the single biggest lever in tote freight economics.
- Buyback
- Our program to purchase used IBC totes from prior owners. Cash on pickup, ACH, or net-15 invoice.
- Buttress thread
- The trapezoidal thread profile used on the standard 2" IBC outlet (S60×6). Engineered for one-direction sealing under modest pressure.
- Caustic wash
- Hot dilute sodium hydroxide (NaOH) recirculation cycle in the wash bay. Used for organic residues and food-prep cleaning.
- Closed-loop reclaim
- A wash-bay system that filters and reuses wash water rather than discharging to sewer. Ours runs at 92% reclaim.
- Composite IBC
- An IBC made of multiple materials — typically HDPE bottle, steel cage, wood or plastic pallet. The most common IBC type globally.
- Crazing
- A pattern of fine surface cracks in HDPE, usually from chemical attack or freeze-thaw cycling. Cosmetic at first; structural if it spreads.
- Dust cap
- A small protective cap that fits over the outlet valve to prevent dust and tampering between fills. Tamper-evident versions are color-coded.
- Embrittlement
- Loss of polymer flexibility from chemical or UV exposure. An embrittled bottle taps with a hard sound instead of a thud and is end-of-life.
- End-of-life
- A tote whose bottle can no longer be reused safely. About 6% of incoming totes at our yard. Bottles get shredded, washed, and pelletized; cages and pallets are reused or recycled separately.
- FDA 21 CFR 175/177
- US FDA regulations defining acceptable food-contact materials. HDPE compounds meeting these are food-grade.
- FKM
- Fluoroelastomer — same as Viton. The petroleum-and-mid-range-solvent gasket material.
- Forklift mast
- The vertical column on a forklift that raises and lowers the forks. Our cage-straightening press is built from a recycled forklift mast.
- Galvanized steel
- Steel coated with zinc for corrosion resistance. The standard IBC cage material; hot-dip galvanized at the OEM, sometimes touch-up painted at the wash yard.
- Hazwaste
- Hazardous waste. Regulated by EPA RCRA. We don't handle hazwaste pickups; we refer to permitted hazwaste brokers.
- Headspace
- The empty volume above the liquid in a tote. 5-20% headspace is required depending on chemistry, temperature, and freeze risk.
- Hot-dip galvanize
- The original anti-corrosion treatment on most IBC cages — molten zinc bath at the OEM. Wears at high-friction points over years.
- Hygroscopy
- The tendency of a liquid (like glycerin) to absorb water from the air. Affects gasket sealing and content concentration over storage time.
- IBC
- Intermediate Bulk Container. The whole class of 100-550-gallon stackable industrial liquid containers.
- Leak test
- A pressure-hold test we run on every reconditioned tote. 30 psig held for 5 minutes. Pass/fail logged with batch ID.
- LDPE / HDPE
- Low-density vs high-density polyethylene. IBC bottles are HDPE — denser, stiffer, more chemically resistant. LDPE is for soft squeeze-bottles.
- NANP
- North American Numbering Plan — the US/Canada/Caribbean phone number system. Our phone-format validation accepts NANP numbers.
- NaOH
- Sodium hydroxide. The caustic in our wash chemistry.
- Octabin
- A different bulk-handling format — corrugated cardboard with eight sides. Not an IBC; we don't sell them.
- OEM
- Original equipment manufacturer. For IBCs: Mauser, Schütz, Greif, Schäfer, etc.
- PAA
- Peracetic acid — the sanitizing rinse in our food-grade wash protocol.
- Permeation
- Slow molecular passage of a chemical through HDPE bottle wall. Solvents, biofuels, and some flammables permeate over weeks; water doesn't.
- Powder coat
- An electrostatically-applied dry paint that's heat-cured. More durable than wet paint; we use it for custom-color cage finishes.
- Pressure rating
- IBCs are not pressure vessels. Rated for ambient pressure plus modest hydrostatic only. Pressurized chemistry needs a pressure vessel.
- Rebottling
- Pairing a new HDPE bottle with a reconditioned cage and pallet. The food-grade sweet spot — virgin contact surface at hybrid pricing.
- Re-certification
- Re-applying the UN31HA1/Y rating after reconditioning. Requires bottle inspection, leak test, and matching the original drop-test regime.
- Reconditioning
- The full process of returning a used IBC to safe-fill condition: wash, cage repair, gasket swap, leak test, re-cert. The core of our business.
- Regrind
- Pelletized HDPE recovered from end-of-life bottles. We sell regrind to North-American molders only.
- Sanitary fitting
- Tri-clamp or similar quick-disconnect coupling, common in food and pharma. Allows easy disassembly for cleaning.
- Sediment pit
- The first stage of our wash-water reclaim system. Solids settle out before the water moves to filtration.
- S60×6
- The 2" buttress thread on standard IBC outlets and tops. Industry standard.
- Shipping cube
- Slang for an IBC tote. Reflects how it's used — as a stackable rectangular container.
- SX-EX
- Schütz's anti-static IBC variant for flammable liquids. Required by some fire codes for Class IA storage.
- TOC
- Total organic carbon — a water-quality measure used in wash-water sampling for food-grade certification.
- UN31HA1/Y
- United Nations rating for a composite IBC for liquids of medium hazard packing group II. The rating most reconditioned composite totes carry.
- UN31A/Y
- UN rating for metal IBCs (stainless or steel).
- UV degradation
- Damage to HDPE from prolonged sunlight exposure. Yellows the bottle; embrittles the polymer over years.
- Validated wash protocol
- A documented wash sequence that consistently delivers a defined cleanliness standard. Our 7-step food-grade protocol is validated against TOC and bench-tested rinse samples.
- Viton
- FKM fluoroelastomer. Gasket material for petroleum and mid-range solvents.
- Wash bay
- The reconditioning facility where used totes are cleaned. Ours has heated water, closed-loop reclaim, and runs both 3-step and 7-step protocols.
- Weighbridge
- A truck-scale used to weigh inbound and outbound loads. Ours tickets every load for chain-of-custody.
- Yard-management software
- The system we use to track every tote, batch, and load. Outputs the data that feeds the Reclaim Counter and the annual report.