The Gulf Coast region is home to thousands of manufacturing facilities, chemical plants, food processors, and agricultural operations — all of which use IBC totes in large quantities. When these totes are discarded rather than recycled, the result is massive amounts of HDPE plastic and steel adding to an already strained waste management system.
By the numbers: The average industrial facility in the Florida panhandle discards 50-200 IBC totes per year. With hundreds of such facilities in our service area alone, that represents tens of thousands of containers annually — each weighing 120 pounds. Without recycling, that is millions of pounds of plastic and steel heading to landfills every year.
The problem with landfilling HDPE: High-density polyethylene does not biodegrade in any meaningful timeframe. In a landfill, an HDPE bottle will remain essentially unchanged for 450 to 1,000 years. It takes up space, contributes to groundwater contamination risk, and represents a total loss of the energy and resources used to produce it.
The recycling solution: When we recycle an IBC tote, we recover over 98% of its materials. The HDPE is shredded, washed, and converted into pellets that become new plastic products. The steel is baled and sent to metal recyclers. Even the wood pallets are chipped for mulch or biomass fuel. Almost nothing is wasted.
Local economic impact: IBC recycling creates local jobs in collection, processing, and resale. Our facility in Fort Walton Beach employs local workers in skilled positions including inspection, cleaning, fabrication, and logistics. The materials we recover are sold to domestic recyclers, keeping the economic benefit within the US.
How you can help: If your business uses IBC totes, choose reuse over disposal whenever possible. When reuse is no longer practical, recycle rather than landfill. Work with a recycler that provides transparent documentation of material recovery. Consider purchasing reconditioned totes to support the circular economy.
Our commitment: Destin IBC Recycle has diverted over 47,000 IBC totes from Gulf Coast landfills since our founding. That represents approximately 5.6 million pounds of material recovered and returned to productive use. We are aiming for 100,000 totes by 2028.