The thing nobody else does

Used totes are
normally anonymous.
Ours have files.

A second-hand container is only as trustworthy as its history. So in 2016 we started stencilling an ID on every cage that leaves the yard and keeping its record. This page lets you read one.

Ask for the passport on a specific lotWe send the files before you pay

First Name *

Last Name *

Email *

Phone *

City

State

Postal Code *

Company

Quantity *

Product Type *

Select Service *

Grade

Message

* requiredPhone & postal code: US or Canada onlyQuantity 1–10,000

No phone calls from us — we answer by email from sales@ibc-recycle.com. Privacy

Try it

Decode a cage ID

Type an ID from a cage you own, or use one of the samples. Cages already in our yard resolve to their logged history; anything else resolves to a modelled one so you can see exactly which fields we keep.

Format and current grade
Cage build year and bottles fitted
Service loops completed
Wash chemistry and repair events
Road miles logged with us
Cumulative CO₂e avoided versus buying new each time

The ID is stencilled on the upper rail of the cage, in white, next to our mark. If yours has worn off, send us four photographs and we can usually identify the unit from the manufacturer plate and the repair pattern.

Tote Passport · decodedCage ID IBC-2B8LQ

Format

330 gal / 1,250 L

Current grade

Rebottled

Cage born

2020

Service loops

Bottles fitted

CO₂e avoided

336 kg

Road miles logged

1,240

Landfill mass avoided

450 lb

Service history

2020Cage pressed and galvanised. First bottle fitted at Windsor, ON.
2021First commercial fill — Hydraulic fluid.
2025Bottle fatigue flagged at intake. Rebottled with new HDPE; cage straightened and re-footed.
2026Triple rinse on our line. Valve and gasket replaced, leak-held for 30 minutes.
Loop 2Returned empty from Toledo, OH. Cage graded Rebottled.
NowIn service with a Michigan grower

Cages already in our yard resolve to their real logged history. Any other ID resolves to a modelled one, so you can see the exact fields we keep — build year, bottle changes, wash chemistry, loop count and avoided emissions — before a tote ever reaches your dock.

Why it exists

A customer asked a question we could not answer

In 2016 a buyer asked how we knew a cage was on its third life rather than its ninth. We did not know. Six weeks later every cage leaving the yard had an ID and a file.

It makes grading honest

When the history is written down, a grader cannot quietly round up. The file either says the bottle was replaced or it does not.

It makes reuse auditable

Regulated buyers can accept reused equipment when its history is documented. The paperwork is what unlocks reuse for serious QA programmes.

It makes impact real

Loop count × avoided emissions per loop is a number you can put in a sustainability report and defend, because the loops are logged individually.

The record

Every field we keep per cage

This is the whole schema. There is nothing else in the file and nothing hidden from you.

Field	Captured at	Why it matters to you
Cage ID	First intake	The key to everything else
Manufacturer & plate data	First intake	Identifies the design and its original rating
Build year	First intake	Steel age, which drives repair expectation
Bottle serial & fit date	Every bottle change	Tells you whether the interior is virgin or reused
Last contents	Every intake	The single most important fact about a used tote
Wash category & parameters	Every wash	Chemistry, temperature, hold time
Repair events	Every repair	Welds, feet, straightening, galvanising
Leak-hold result	Every reconditioning	Pass/fail with duration
Grade assigned	Every outbound	And the inspection notes behind it
Photo set	Every intake & outbound	Six angles including the marking panel
Loop count	Derived	How many service cycles this cage has completed
Road miles	Derived	Freight carried on our own lanes
Avoided CO₂e	Derived	Loop count × 112 kg, with methodology published

Passport questions

Reasonable scepticism, answered

Is this just a serial number with marketing around it?

The ID is a serial number. The passport is the file behind it, and the file is what you get sent before you pay — grade sheet, wash record, last-contents disclosure and photographs. If a seller gives you a number with nothing behind it, you have a sticker, not a passport.

What happens if I buy a tote and later sell it back to you?

The file continues. That is the point. We log the return, the next wash and the next grade against the same ID, and the loop count goes up by one. Some of our cages have been through our own yard eight times.

Can I see the file for a tote I already own?

Yes, if the ID is legible, free of charge, for as long as we are in business. Send the ID on the contact form.

Does the passport make the tote UN rated?

No, and we are careful about this. A UN rating comes from testing and marking under a licensed programme. The passport is our own service record — useful, honest, and not a regulatory instrument.

What do the IDs that are not in your yard show?

A modelled history, generated deterministically from the ID you type so it is stable and repeatable. It exists to show you the schema. Anything we quote you commercially comes from the real file, and we will say so explicitly.

Keep reading

Tote poolingPassports power the poolOpen →CertificationsThe five documents we issueOpen →How many lives?What the records revealedOpen →

Buy a tote with a history.

Ask for the passport files on any lot we quote. They arrive before the invoice does.

Request a quote Contact us

Used totes arenormally anonymous.Ours have files.