Sustainability · 04.1
The Reclaim
Meter.
Short answer
- Avoided impact, not total footprint — stated precisely
- All coefficients published with sources
- Works with scripting disabled: the default scenario is rendered server-side
- Signed certificates available through diversion reporting
Want this certified?
The Reclaim Meter
Live · published coefficients
We spend about 88 kg CO₂e washing, testing and hauling each unit. It is still a 126 kg net win.
- CO₂e avoided
- 3.02 t
- Material kept in service
- 2,304 kg
- Landfill volume avoided
- 8.2 m³
- Process water avoided
- 7,440 gal
- Equivalent to not driving
- 7,754 mi
- Or a year's work by
- 138.7 trees
vs. 24 new composite IBCs
1,248 kg HDPE · 1,056 kg steel
Crushed-unit basis
Resin + steel production
At 0.39 kg CO₂e per mile
At 21.8 kg CO₂e sequestered per tree-year
Reclaim gauge
3t
CO₂e you do not emit by refusing a new tote
Per-unit model
Exactly what the slider multiplies
These are the per-unit values behind the tool. Multiply by quantity; there is no other arithmetic hiding anywhere.
| Grade | CO₂e avoided | Virgin HDPE avoided | Steel avoided | HDPE recovered | Landfill volume | Process water |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| As-is / rinsed | 148 kg | 52 kg | 44 kg | — | 0.34 m³ | 340 gal |
| Reconditioned | 126 kg | 52 kg | 44 kg | — | 0.34 m³ | 310 gal |
| Rebottled | 64 kg | — | 44 kg | 52 kg | 0.34 m³ | 150 gal |
| New (baseline) | 0 kg | 0 kg | 0 kg | — | 0 m³ | 0 gal |
Short answer
- New composite IBC manufacture: ~214 kg CO₂e
- Our reconditioning cost: ~88 kg CO₂e per unit
- Net avoided: 214 − 88 = 126 kg
- As-is skips the 88 kg wash cost entirely → 148 kg
Conversion factors used
| Equivalence | Factor |
|---|---|
| Vehicle miles not driven | 0.39 kg CO₂e per mile |
| Tree-years of sequestration | 21.8 kg CO₂e per tree-year |
| Virgin HDPE, cradle-to-gate | 1.9 kg CO₂e per kg |
| Galvanised steel, primary route | 2.3 kg CO₂e per kg |
| Landfill volume, crushed basis | 0.34 m³ per unit |
Sources and derivations for each of these are on the carbon math page.
What it deliberately does not claim
Three honest limitations
A calculator you cannot criticise is a calculator nobody should trust. Here is where ours stops.
It ignores your use phase
Filling, shipping and using the tote all have impacts we do not model, because they depend entirely on your product and your lanes. This tool answers one question: what did not get manufactured?
Freight is averaged, not specific
Our 88 kg reconditioning cost uses an average inbound haul across our network. Your specific unit may have travelled further or less far. For a 900-mile delivery the net saving is genuinely thinner than for a 90-mile one.
Coefficients are industry averages
Virgin HDPE at 1.9 kg CO₂e per kg and galvanised steel at 2.3 are cradle-to-gate industry figures, not a specific supplier's verified EPD. Real values vary by roughly ±15% with grid mix and process route.
Questions
Reclaim Meter questions
What exactly does the Reclaim Meter calculate?
Avoided impact — the manufacturing burden that does not occur because you bought a reclaimed container instead of a new one. It is not your total footprint for using the tote, and it does not count the emissions from your own filling, shipping or use. It answers one question precisely: what did not get made?
Why does rebottled save less than reconditioned?
Because rebottling fits a new bottle, which means 52 kg of virgin HDPE still gets moulded. You avoid the cage and base — 44 kg of galvanised steel — but you pay the resin burden. 64 kg avoided versus 126 kg for reconditioned.
Why does as-is save more than reconditioned?
Because we spend nothing washing it. Reconditioning costs about 88 kg CO₂e per unit in heated water, caustic, effluent treatment and freight. An as-is tote skips that, so it avoids 148 kg instead of 126. The lowest-footprint container in existence is the one already in your yard.
Can I use these numbers in my ESG report?
The figures are defensible and the coefficients are published, but a report usually wants a signed document rather than a screenshot. Our diversion reporting service issues exactly that: unit counts, tonnage by stream, methodology and coefficient sources.
Are the equivalences meaningful?
They are illustrative conversions using standard factors — 0.39 kg CO₂e per vehicle mile and 21.8 kg sequestered per tree-year. They help people feel a tonne of CO₂e, which is otherwise an abstraction. The underlying avoided-emissions figure is the number we would defend in an audit.
Worked examples
Three real order sizes, calculated
So you can sanity-check the tool against something concrete before relying on it.
| Order | CO₂e avoided | Material kept in service | Landfill volume | Equivalent miles not driven |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 12 units (a small delivery) | 1.5 t | 1,152 kg | 4.1 m³ | ~3,880 |
| 42 units (one full trailer) | 5.3 t | 4,032 kg | 14.3 m³ | ~13,570 |
| 400 units (a typical annual purchase) | 50.4 t | 38,400 kg | 136 m³ | ~129,200 |
Each of those is the central estimate. The ±15% coefficient uncertainty puts the 400-unit figure between 42.8 and 58.0 tonnes, and a report that states the band reads as more careful rather than less impressive.
Reading the output
What each readout means, precisely
The tool shows six figures. Each one answers a different question and two of them are easy to misread.
| Readout | Answers | Easy to misread as |
|---|---|---|
| CO₂e avoided | What manufacturing did not happen because of this order | Your own emissions reduction — it is not |
| Material kept in service | Mass of HDPE and steel not newly produced, or recovered | Material you now own — some of it is recycled rather than reused |
| Landfill volume avoided | Crushed-unit volume that did not go underground | Volume of the containers themselves — it is the crushed figure |
| Process water avoided | Water not used in resin and steel production | Water you save in operation — unrelated |
| Equivalent miles not driven | An illustrative conversion at 0.39 kg CO₂e per mile | A measured transport saving |
| Tree-years | An illustrative conversion at 21.8 kg CO₂e per tree-year | Trees planted — nothing is planted |
Short answer
- The first figure is the one to report; the last two are for intuition
- Avoided impact is not an emissions reduction in your inventory
- Rebottled avoids less than reconditioned because of the new resin
- As-is avoids most of all, because we spend nothing washing it
From the Yard Journal
Longer pieces from the people who run the wash line, the test bay and the trading desk.
13 February 2025 · 3 min
Why we publish the 88 kg we spend
Most avoided-emissions figures count only the avoided side. Ours subtracts what reconditioning actually costs us, and that subtraction is the reason the number is usable.
Theo Marsh · Materials & reporting
Read16 May 2024 · 5 min
How we count a tote that never comes back
Attrition in a returnable pool runs 8% to 14% a year. Pretending otherwise produces sustainability numbers that quietly inflate.
Theo Marsh · Materials & reporting
Read
Next move
Want this number on your order confirmation?
Ask and we will include the avoided-impact figure for your specific quantity and grade on the quote itself — not as a badge, as a line with the methodology referenced.