Services · S-09
Site
decommissioning.
Short answer
- On-site survey before you commit to anything
- Unknown-history units go to recycling, not guesswork
- Weathered and crazed units still have value
- One certificate, plus certified scale tickets
Request a site survey
The job
Five stages, starting with a survey you do not pay for
- 01
Desk scoping
Send a rough count, your zip code, and photographs from two angles if you can. We will tell you within a day whether this is likely to pay you, cost you, or roughly break even.
- 02
On-site survey
We walk the yard, sample-check bottles and cages, read plates, and talk to whoever remembers what was in things. We leave with a disposition count by stream and a firm number.
- 03
Manifesting and segregation
Anything needing a hazmat manifest gets handled separately with documentation. Units with unidentifiable residue are segregated into the recycling stream before loading, not after.
- 04
Haul out
Staged loads on our equipment, nested where the cages allow, reusable dunnage. Large yards go out over one to three weeks so we are not blocking your operation.
- 05
Certify and close
One diversion certificate covering the whole clear-out, certified scale tickets for the recycled portion, and a photograph of the empty yard — which is, in our experience, the part people actually wanted.
Typical disposition
What a 400-unit mixed yard usually becomes
Taken from an average of our last eleven decommissioning jobs. Your mix will differ, but the shape is remarkably consistent.
| Stream | Share | Units | Outcome |
|---|---|---|---|
| Resaleable as-is or rinsed | 18% | 72 | Graded and resold with prior-contents disclosure |
| Reconditionable | 31% | 124 | Washed, tested, resold as reconditioned |
| Rebottling candidates | 24% | 96 | Cage reused, new bottle fitted, old bottle granulated |
| Recycling — bottle and cage | 21% | 84 | Granulated and baled; ~9.5 t of material recovered |
| Cage-only salvage | 5% | 20 | Bottle granulated, cage straightened and sold bare |
| Rejected for disposal | 1% | 4 | Unidentifiable residue to permitted disposal with documentation |
Why the economics usually work
Because three quarters of a typical weathered yard is not scrap. The 73% that is resaleable, reconditionable or rebottlable carries real value, and that value funds the labour and haulage on the 27% that does not. A general scrap contractor shreds the whole lot mixed and pays you shred price for all of it — which is why a decommissioning quote from us so often beats a disposal quote from anyone else.
What happens to the recycled portion →Who calls us
Five situations that end in a decommissioning
Plant closure or relocation
A site is shutting and the container fleet is the last thing anyone thought about. Usually a three-week window and a hard deadline.
Fleet standardisation
A company switching to pooled or uniform containers needs the legacy mix gone, often with the asset write-off documented for finance.
Landlord or lease exit
Yard must be clear by a date in a lease. We work to the date, which is frequently the only requirement that matters.
Acquisition clean-up
New owners inherit a yard nobody surveyed during due diligence. The diversion certificate often matters as much as the clearance.
ESG and audit pressure
A sustainability team discovers the company has been landfilling containers. We clear the backlog and document the diversion properly.
Insurance or fire-code order
Stacked weathered totes flagged as a hazard. These jobs move fastest, and we price them the same as any other.
Questions
Decommissioning questions
We have hundreds of totes and no records. Can you still help?
Yes. That is the normal condition of a decommissioning job. We survey on site, identify prior contents where we can from labels, plates and your staff, and triage what cannot be identified into the recycling stream rather than guessing at it. Unknown history does not stop the job; it just changes which stream a unit goes into.
What does a decommissioning cost?
Frequently nothing, and often it pays you. If the mix contains enough resaleable and rebottlable units, their value covers the haul and the labour on the scrap portion. Where the mix is mostly weathered scrap, there is a net cost — and we will tell you which situation you are in after the survey, before you commit.
Can you take totes that have been outdoors for years?
Yes. UV-crazed plastic still granulates and galvanised steel still bales. Weathered units have lower value, not zero value. The only things that stop us are unidentifiable residue, un-manifested hazmat and containers still holding product.
What if some totes still have liquid in them?
Heels — a residual inch or two — we can manage with a manifest. Containers still holding usable quantities of product are a waste disposal job, and we are not permitted to be a waste disposal contractor. Drain them first, or bring in a licensed firm for that portion and we will take the empties.
What documentation do we get?
One diversion certificate for the whole clear-out: total unit count, disposition by stream (resold, reconditioned, rebottled, recycled), tonnage by material, and the methodology. Plus certified scale tickets for the recycled portion.
Before the survey
A ten-minute self-assessment
You can estimate the shape of a decommissioning job yourself before anyone visits. Walk the pile and count against these five categories.
| Look for | How to recognise it | Roughly worth |
|---|---|---|
| Good units near the building | Recent arrivals, clean cages, clear bottles | Highest — resale or reconditioning |
| Weathered units against the fence | Dull cage, cloudy or crackled bottle | Rebottling candidates — better than they look |
| Crushed or bent cages | Bowed or folded uprights | Good — the bottle is usually sound |
| Bare cages and loose bases | Stacked separately, bottles removed | Straightforward component value |
| Anything still holding liquid | Weight, or visible level | Zero to us — needs a licensed waste contractor first |
Count those five and send the numbers with two photographs from opposite corners. That is enough for us to tell you within a day whether the job pays you, costs you, or comes out level — before anybody drives anywhere.
Site logistics
What we need on the ground
Decommissioning jobs happen on sites that are closing, relocating or under a deadline, which means the usual assumptions about access and equipment often do not hold.
| Requirement | Ideal | Workable | Tell us if |
|---|---|---|---|
| Access | 53-ft trailer can turn and back | Smaller vehicles, more trips | Gate under 12 ft or a tight approach |
| Loading equipment | Your forklift and operator | We bring equipment | No forklift available on site |
| Surface | Concrete or asphalt | Compacted gravel | Loose gravel, dirt or a slope |
| Staging area | Space to sort into streams | Sort on the trailer | No room to work beside the pile |
| Site supervision | Someone who can answer questions | A contact by phone | The site is already unstaffed |
| Timing | Normal working hours | Out of hours by arrangement | There is a hard lease or closure date |
| Documentation | Someone who knows what was filled | Labels and plates only | Nobody remembers — we will triage conservatively |
Short answer
- Large yards are staged over one to three weeks
- We bring equipment if the site has none
- A hard deadline changes scoping more than unit count does
- One diversion certificate covers the whole clear-out
From the Yard Journal
Longer pieces from the people who run the wash line, the test bay and the trading desk.
28 February 2023 · 6 min
Nine things that arrive in a decommissioning load
A yard clear-out is never a clean count of one thing. Here is the actual mix from our last eleven jobs, including the units nobody warned us about.
Marcus Vreeland · Founder
Read5 September 2024 · 4 min
What regrind buyers actually pay for
Colour and melt index, in that order. Sorting to that granularity cut our granulator payback from 4.5 years to 3.2, and nobody modelled it in advance.
Theo Marsh · Materials & reporting
Read9 August 2023 · 5 min
Hurricane season changes how we stack
An empty tote is a 132 lb sail. Here is what fifteen Atlantic seasons taught a yard eleven miles from the Georgia coast.
Marcus Vreeland · Founder
Read
Next move
Send a rough count and two photographs.
From a count, a zip code and two pictures we can usually tell you within a day whether clearing your yard pays you, costs you, or comes out about even. The survey itself is free either way.