Rinsed IBC totes

What rinsed does and does not mean

Rinsing is the quickest wash a tote gets. Someone empties it, flushes it with water or a suitable rinse, and drains it. That leaves a tote that does not carry visible residue, which is all the word promises.

It does not promise a certificate, a leak test, a new gasket or a clean history. A rinsed tote that held a pigment can still hold a pigment in the plastic. A rinsed tote that held a chemical is a chemical tote that has been flushed.

Good uses for a rinsed tote

Rinsed fits non-food jobs where the history does not matter: carrying wash water on a Riverside nursery, storing rinse or process water in a Perris warehouse, holding dry goods that never touch the plastic, or serving as a stand for a garden project. For irrigation, the question is what the tote held before. A tote that last held a non-hazardous cleaner is usually fine for a drip line to ornamentals; a tote that held a pesticide or an unknown product is not a candidate for anything that touches food.

A buyer should ask for the last contents and the SDS even on a rinsed tote, and the answer decides the job.

Rinsed compared with triple-rinsed

Triple-rinsed means flushed three times with water or a suitable solvent. It is the standard cleaning for containers that held acute hazardous waste under federal rules, and it applies to the container, not the plastic. A triple-rinsed tote is still the original bottle and still not food grade unless its history is documented. The triple rinse guide covers the rule.

Checks before you buy

• The last contents and the SDS.
• A clean interior: no heel, no film, no odor you cannot explain.
• A sound cage, valve and cap. Rinsing does not repair anything.
• The intended use, said plainly in the request.

What a rinse leaves behind

A rinse removes what comes off easily. It does not remove what has soaked into the plastic or settled in the gasket, the valve seat and the thread under the cap. Polyethylene is slightly porous to some solvents, so a bottle that held a strong-smelling product may keep that smell for months.

That is why a rinsed tote suits some jobs and not others. It is fine for water that will water a lawn, a rack of cleaning buckets or a stock tank. It is not fine for anything you will eat, drink or put on a crop.

Honest uses for a rinsed tote

Water for a stock tank, rainwater storage for ornamentals, a mixing bucket for non-food cleaning, a parts-wash staging tank. Each tolerates a little history. None involves eating, drinking or food-contact surfaces.

Questions people ask