One yard, two inboxes, no phone room.

Everything happens in writing. That is a deliberate choice, not a limitation — a written question gets a written answer from the person whose bench actually covers it, and six months later you can still find what was agreed. Use the form below, or email us directly.

Write to us

Reply within 1 business day

This is the fastest route to a named specialist. Every field helps us answer in one reply instead of three.

First Name *

Last Name *

Email *

Phone *US or Canada only — 10 digits, e.g. (317) 204-0100

Company

Address

City

State / Province

Postal Code *US ZIP like 46226, or Canadian postal code like M5V 2T6

Select Service *

Product Type *

Quantity *Whole units, 1 to 100,000

Grade

Message

Fields marked * are required. Phone and postal code are checked against real US and Canadian number ranges, so please enter details we can actually reach you on.

01 / THE DETAILS

Address, email, hours

Where we are and when we are open

The yard

Address

ToteOrbit
3201 N Shadeland Ave
Indianapolis, IN 46226
USA

Open in maps

Four dock doors on the north side. Visitor and trailer parking at the Shadeland Avenue entrance. Check in at the inbound dock office.

In writing

Email

General & support
hello@toteorbit.com
Quotes, orders & buybacks
quotes@toteorbit.com

We reply within one business day and usually the same afternoon. Attachments are welcome — photographs of a tote, a spec sheet, a marking you want decoded.

No telephone number

ToteOrbit does not operate a phone line. Anyone calling you claiming to be us is not us.

Eastern time

Hours of business

Monday – Thursday7:00 AM – 5:00 PM ET
Friday7:00 AM – 3:00 PM ET
Saturday8:00 AM – 12:00 PM ET
SundayClosed

Monday – Thursday: Yard + dock open
Friday: Last freight pickup 1:30 PM
Saturday: Scheduled pickups only
Sunday: Email monitored for emergencies

02 / ROUTING

Who reads what

Where your message actually lands

The Select Service field in the form routes your message to the bench that can answer it. Here is the map.

01Buy reconditioned / new totesNoor Haddad — Customer specialist1 business day

02Sell my used totes · pickupsCamille Boudreau — Dispatch & logistics1 business day

03Reconditioning · toll washingIbrahim Danso — Wash line supervisor1 business day

04Grading questions · disputesPriya Raghunathan — Grading bench1 business day

05Custom fabrication · upcycled buildsWalt Krzeminski — Fabrication1 business day

06Recycling · regrind purchaseTobias Lindgren — Resin recovery1 business day

07Compliance · certificates · auditsMarisol Treviño — Yard operations lead1 business day

08CareersMarisol Treviño — Yard operations lead1 business day

03 / VISITING

Practical

Before you drive over

Can I buy a single tote at the yard?

Yes. Yard pickup during business hours is the cheapest way to buy one to four units, because small-order freight is dominated by the minimum charge. Bring a trailer or a pickup with straps. We will grade and load while you wait.

Can I sell you a few totes in person?

Yes, and we will grade and pay on the spot. Bring the written cargo declaration — without it we cannot buy them, and that rule applies at the dock exactly as it applies to a truckload.

Do I need an appointment?

Not for pickups or drop-offs during Monday to Friday hours. Saturday mornings are appointment only. Yard walkthroughs run Tuesday and Thursday mornings and do need booking — mention it in the form.

What are the dock cut-offs?

Last freight pickup leaves at 1:30 PM Eastern on Fridays and 3:00 PM Monday to Thursday. Same-day parts orders need to be placed before 1:00 PM Eastern.

Why is there no phone number?

Because the people who know the answers are standing at benches, not at desks. A written question reaches the right bench and comes back with a written answer you can forward, file and refer to later. It is slower by minutes and better by a mile.

04 / WRITING TO US

Get a complete answer in one reply

What to put in the message

Every field in the form helps, and five facts in particular turn a three-email exchange into a single answer. None of it is mandatory — the form will take a two-line enquiry perfectly happily.

Paste them into the message field and the first reply will carry a delivered price, a date and a documentation list.
Tell us	Example	Why it matters
Quantity and capacity	40 × 275 gal	Sets the freight tier, which dominates delivered cost
The cargo and its concentration	UAN 32 solution, SG 1.32	Drives seat material, lid type and gross weight
Delivery ZIP and dock situation	46226, dock + forklift	Decides the equipment and the transit band
Your window	10–24 March, not firm	Flexibility lets us slot you onto an existing lane
Empties to clear	About 60 in July	A paired trip frequently changes the quote

If you are buying

Grade, or a description of the duty if you are not sure.
Outlet thread your pump expects — S60x6 or NPT.
Whether a current UN marking is required.
Doorway width and ceiling height if space is tight.
Lift-gate rating if you have no dock.

If you are selling

Count, and whether they are on one dock or several.
Prior cargo — in writing, by trade name and concentration.
Rough condition, and photographs if you have them.
Access: forklift, dock, gate hours, appointment portal.
Whether the timing is flexible. It usually pays.

05 / THE YARD

3201 N Shadeland Ave

Finding us, and what happens when you arrive

Four dock doors on the north side, visitor and trailer parking at the Shadeland Avenue entrance, and an inbound dock office where everybody checks in.

All times Eastern. Saturday is appointment only; email ahead and we will confirm a slot.
	Hours	Dock cut-off	Notes
Monday – Thursday	7:00 AM – 5:00 PM	3:00 PM	Yard and dock fully staffed
Friday	7:00 AM – 3:00 PM	1:30 PM	Last freight pickup leaves at 1:30
Saturday	8:00 AM – 12:00 PM	—	Scheduled pickups and drop-offs only
Sunday	Closed	—	Email monitored for genuine emergencies
Same-day parts orders	Before 1:00 PM	—	Stock accessory lines ship that afternoon
Yard walkthroughs	Tue & Thu AM	—	Booked in advance, ask in the form

Buying at the dock

One to four units is comfortably cheapest collected. Bring a trailer or a pickup with straps and we will grade and load while you wait. No appointment needed Monday to Friday.

Selling at the dock

We grade and pay on the spot. Bring the written cargo declaration — without it we cannot buy them, and that rule applies at the dock exactly as it applies to a truckload.

Carriers and drivers

Check in at the inbound dock office before backing in. We load flatbeds and vans; bring your own securement if you are collecting FCA. Overnight parking is not available on site.

D / ORDERING

Commercial terms, up front

Lead times, minimums and what happens when it goes wrong

Discovering these at invoice stage is nobody's idea of a good relationship, so they are published.

Published so nothing arrives as a surprise at invoice stage. Prices themselves move weekly with resin, scrap steel and freight, which is why we do not publish a list.
Item	Detail
Minimum order	One unit. No account minimum, no membership.
Stock lead time	Grade A and B 275 gal usually ship the same week
Rebottled lead time	2–3 weeks, built to order in bay D
Food-grade lead time	1–3 weeks when stock exists; supply-dependent
Full truckload	45 on a 48 ft flat, 48 in a 53 ft van, 90 empties double-stacked
Payment, first order	Prepay by ACH or card
Payment, established	Net 30 on credit approval
Grade guarantee	Regrade or replace, our freight both ways, 14 days
Leak warranty	30 days from delivery, normal atmospheric service
Cancellation	Free until the truck is loaded
Returns	14 days on unused stock units, freight at your cost
Sales tax	Indiana resale certificates and out-of-state equivalents accepted

A / SPECIFICATION

Reference

Dimensions, fittings and seat materials

The three tables people actually need before ordering. Full versions, with pallet footprints, metric conversions and sixty-plus cargo entries, live in the size guide.

A reconditioned 275 gallon caged composite IBC tote on a black plastic pallet, showing the galvanised cage, the moulded HDPE bottle, the red discharge valve and the six-inch fill cap — A single 275 gallon unit off the outbound pad. Galvanised tubular cage, blow-moulded HDPE bottle, 2 in S60x6 outlet, six-inch vented fill cap.

Rows of IBC totes stacked two and three high on pallets inside the Indianapolis warehouse — Graded stock under roof, staged two and three high. Loaded units never stack more than two, and never while warm.

Nominal figures. Gross weight assumes water at 8.34 lb/gal — multiply by your cargo's specific gravity, then check it against the maximum permitted gross mass on the unit's own marking.
Capacity	Litres	Footprint	Height	Tare	Gross (water)	Stack loaded
275 gal	1,041	48 × 40 in	46 in	≈140 lb	≈2,435 lb	2 high
330 gal	1,249	48 × 40 in	53 in	≈155 lb	≈2,905 lb	2 high
350 gal	1,325	48 × 40 in	56 in	≈165 lb	≈3,075 lb	2 high
120 gal	454	40 × 32 in	38 in	≈95 lb	≈1,095 lb	2 high
180 gal	681	42 × 36 in	42 in	≈115 lb	≈1,616 lb	2 high
550 gal	2,082	60 × 48 in	60 in	≈240 lb	≈4,830 lb	1 high

B / FITTINGS

What threads onto it

Fittings, threads and seat materials

S60x6 is a buttress thread that seals against a flat gasket face, not on the thread flanks. It is not interchangeable with NPT — forcing one into the other is the commonest hidden fault in used containers.
Fitting	Size	Seals by	Seat options	Typical service
S60x6 butterfly valve	2 in	Flat gasket face	EPDM, Viton, PTFE	The standard IBC outlet
S70x6 butterfly valve	2 in	Flat gasket face	EPDM, Viton	European and some 330 gal units
2 in NPT ball valve, poly	2 in	Thread flanks + tape	EPDM, Viton	Retrofits, metered dispensing
2 in NPT ball valve, stainless	2 in	Thread flanks + tape	PTFE	Solvents, pressure, hot cargo
3 in butterfly valve	3 in	Flat gasket face	EPDM, Viton	Viscous cargo, high flow
6 in fill cap	6 in	Gasketed lid	EPDM, silicone	Vented or solid — choose deliberately
Camlock adapter, type C	1.5 / 2 in	Cam arms + gasket	Buna, Viton	Repeated connect / disconnect
Bulkhead tap	3/4 in	Both-side gaskets	Brass, poly	Rain kits, site water

The valve body rarely fails. The seat does, and it is chosen by cargo rather than by price. Always verify against your specific concentration and temperature.
Material	Good with	Avoid with	Temperature	Cost
EPDM	Water, acids, caustics, brine, ag-chem	Oils, fuels, aromatics	-40 to 250 °F	Low
Viton (FKM)	Solvents, oils, fuels, aromatics	Ketones, amines, hot steam	-15 to 400 °F	High
Nitrile (NBR)	Oils, diesel, greases, hydraulics	Ozone, strong oxidisers	-30 to 250 °F	Low
PTFE envelope	Almost all chemistry, high purity	Needs very flat flange faces	-100 to 450 °F	High
Silicone	Food contact, wide temperature	Solvents, abrasion	-60 to 450 °F	Medium

C / COMPATIBILITY

Will HDPE hold it?

Sixteen cargo families, rated

HDPE is brilliant at most things and hopeless at a few. Where the answer is C, we will point you at stainless rather than sell you a container that will craze.

A = suitable, B = suitable with limits, C = not recommended in a composite IBC. Guidance only — verify against your own concentration and temperature.
Cargo family	HDPE	Seat	Notes
Water, potable and non-potable	A	EPDM / silicone	Food-history units for potable
Acids and caustics, aqueous	A	EPDM / PTFE	Vent fuming cargo
Liquid fertiliser, UAN, NPK	A	EPDM	SG up to 1.32 — check your lift-gate
Brine and chloride de-icer	A	EPDM	Hard on galvanising, kind to HDPE
Food syrups, oils, concentrates	A	Silicone / Viton	Documented food history only
Glycols	A	EPDM	Very common; SG 1.04–1.11
Alcohols	A	Viton / PTFE	Flammable — bond and vent
Diesel and gas oil	B	Viton / NBR	Permeates slowly over long storage
Mineral spirits	B	Viton	Swells HDPE slowly
Surfactants and detergents	B	EPDM	Odour fixation risk — dedicate units
Latex, adhesives, water-based paint	A	EPDM	Cures if left. Wash promptly.
Ketones, aromatics, chlorinated solvents	C	—	Crazes HDPE. Stainless only.
Gasoline and low-conductivity fuels	C	—	Static risk. Steel or stainless.
Essential oils, flavour concentrates	C	—	Fixes into the wall permanently. Never.
Hydrogen peroxide above 10%	C	—	Decomposition and pressure risk
Dairy and hot-fill above 140 °F	C	—	Needs CIP and steam. Stainless.

Permeation

Small non-polar molecules pass slowly through HDPE rather than attacking it. The bottle looks perfect and your cargo quietly leaves. It is a storage-duration problem: diesel for a week is fine, diesel for a year is not.

Crazing

Ketones, aromatics and chlorinated solvents cause fine surface cracking that propagates under stress. It is invisible until you hold the wall against a raking light, and it is a critical grading failure.

Odour fixation

Terpenes and some surfactants dissolve into the polymer itself rather than sitting on the surface. No wash removes them. This is why a food-grade tote has to have been a food tote from new.

A wide aisle inside the warehouse with IBC totes stacked on both sides and a roller door open at the far end — Compatibility decides where a container can go next. Everything in this aisle carries a written cargo history.

E / GRADING

A grade is a promise, not a mood

How every unit is scored

We publish the whole system because a grade without written criteria is just an opinion with a price tag. Nineteen points, fixed thresholds, one card per unit, seven years on file.

Every unit is scored against all nineteen. A single critical failure condemns the unit regardless of how the other eighteen score.
#	Point	Critical?
01	Prior cargo declaration — present, written, specific	Yes
02	Residual liquid — any volume at all	Yes
03	Odour after wash — fixed odour by trained nose	Yes
04	Bottle corner stress whitening	No
05	Interior scoring you can feel	No
06	Interior crazing — fine surface cracking	Yes
07	Bottle bulge or deformation	Yes
08	Wall thickness at the thinnest point	Yes
09	Dome port condition and flange flatness	No
10	Outlet threads — cross-threading, chipping	Yes if crossed
11	Valve function, full open and close	No, replaceable
12	Gasket condition — compression set, bloom	No, replaceable
13	Cage squareness along the top rail	No, pressable
14	Cage weld integrity at tube intersections	Yes
15	Cage coating and galvanising loss	No
16	Pallet condition — cracked feet, rot, corrosion	No, replaceable
17	Forklift pocket integrity	No
18	UN marking legibility and date	No, re-markable
19	Leak test under our procedure	Yes

F / END OF LIFE

Reuse first, recycle last

What happens when the container is finally finished

Every unit that arrives is assessed down this list, in this order. 99.4% of incoming mass avoided landfill in 2024, and reuse plus repair accounted for over three quarters of it.

Assessed in this order, per unit, every time. The granulator is the fourth choice, not the first. 2024 figures against 2,994,000 lb of inbound mass.
Step	Outcome	Share of mass	Cost to us
01	Reuse as is — wash and redeploy	63.9%	11 gal of mostly reclaimed water
02	Repair and reuse — valve, gasket, pallet, cage	11.4%	Parts and bench time
03	Rebottle — new bottle, reclaimed steel	9.6%	A new bottle, two thirds of mass retained
04	Upcycle — rain kits, grow beds, wash stations	3.2%	Fabrication time
05	Material recovery — HDPE regrind, steel, wood	11.3%	Grinding, washing, drying energy
06	Residual to licensed disposal	0.6%	Sludge, gasket rubber, fasteners, laminates

Stacks of used IBC totes under a clear blue sky on the gravel pad, awaiting grading — Inbound. Nothing comes off the trailer before its cargo declaration is read.

Mixed white and black IBC totes staged beside the loading dock doors — Graded and sorted. Black bottles are UV-stable units destined for outdoor service.

A wide field of IBC totes standing on grass under a blue sky, waiting to be collected — Recovered from a customer yard. Every one of these avoided a crusher.

G / PITFALLS

Learned the expensive way

Five mistakes that cost people money

Not hypothetical. Each of these has arrived in our inbox, usually more than once.

Ordering a 330 without measuring the ceiling
A 275 and a 330 share a footprint; the 330 is seven inches taller. Two 330s stacked is 110 inches against 96 for two 275s, and most sprinkler regimes want eighteen inches of clearance below the deflector. That seven inches is frequently the whole margin.
Forcing an NPT fitting into an S60x6 port
Both are roughly two inches, so it bites and feels tight. It is not sealing, it is chewing the buttress thread. The joint weeps two days later, usually in transit, and cross-threading is one of the few faults that condemns an otherwise perfect bottle.
Reusing a flange gasket
A gasket is a one-use part the moment it has taken a compression set. Reusing one is the cause of most 'the new valve still leaks' emails we get. They cost a couple of dollars. Keep a box at the fill point.
Specifying a solid lid on a tote that sees sun
Sealed container, rising temperature, nowhere for the expansion to go. The bottle bulges between the cage bars and does not fully return. A vented lid is the cheapest risk control in this industry.
Ignoring specific gravity
A full 275 of water is 2,435 lb. The same tote of UAN 32 is 3,168 lb, and a 330 is 3,785 lb. Plenty of lift-gates are rated at 2,500 or 3,000 lb, and the rating assumes a centred load.

06 / WHAT YOU WOULD SEE

If you drove over

The dock, on an ordinary morning

Four doors on the north side, visitor and trailer parking at the Shadeland Avenue entrance, and the inbound office where everybody checks in.

IBC totes staged beside the loading dock doors at the Indianapolis yard — The outbound side. Yard pickup for one to four units happens right here, Monday to Friday.

Used IBC totes stacked on the gravel pad under a clear blue sky — The inbound pad. Drop-offs are graded and paid for on the spot — bring the cargo declaration.

Keep reading

One business day

Write to us. A person replies.

No ticket number, no chatbot, no hold music — mostly because there is no hold.

Use the form above Email hello@toteorbit.com

One yard, two inboxes, no phone room.

Write to us

Where we are and when we are open

Address

Email

Hours of business

Where your message actually lands

Before you drive over

What to put in the message

Finding us, and what happens when you arrive

Lead times, minimums and what happens when it goes wrong

Dimensions, fittings and seat materials

Fittings, threads and seat materials

Sixteen cargo families, rated

How every unit is scored

What happens when the container is finally finished

Five mistakes that cost people money

Ordering a 330 without measuring the ceiling

Forcing an NPT fitting into an S60x6 port

Reusing a flange gasket

Specifying a solid lid on a tote that sees sun

Ignoring specific gravity

The dock, on an ordinary morning

Frequently Asked Questions

Freight & Delivery FAQ

Facility & Fleet

Write to us. A person replies.