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Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach

Used IBC totes for Miami and South Florida

Used IBC totes from South Florida’s docks to its farms and yards

The empties that bring liquids through the ports get a second job: irrigation, rain, storm-season water. We match each one by grade and last contents.

Ask for totesSelling empties? Start here
How one tote changes hands

From the port cranes to a side yard

Four stops, one bottle. Each stop links to buying or selling.

  1. Stop 1

    Liquids arrive by the tote

    PortMiami handled 1,115,058 TEUs in fiscal year 2025. Port Everglades set a record at 1,167,552. The Port of Palm Beach moves bulk sugar, molasses and cement. Liquid cargo moves in many forms, including IBC totes.

    The three counties
  2. Stop 2

    Empties stack up in Doral

    Importers and forwarders near the airport end up with 275 and 330 gallon bottles on the floor and a last-contents label on each. Send the count, the size and what the SDS says.

    Sell your empties
  3. Stop 3

    A Redland shade house takes a few dozen

    Miami-Dade ranks first in the country for ornamental plants. A grower can move a rinsed tote on a pallet jack and run irrigation, fertigation mixing or spray water from it.

    Buy for irrigation
  4. Stop 4

    A side yard catches the roof

    One inch of rain on 1,000 square feet of roof yields about 600 gallons, says UF/IFAS. A screened tote at the downspout holds a good part of that for the garden.

    Buy for rain catchment
What’s next for your tote

Pick the job. We’ll tell you the grade.

Plants forgive a used bottle, but not a herbicide. Ask for totes whose last contents were food ingredients, non-hazardous chemicals or water, and flush before the first fill.

Grades that fit

Grades that never do

Ask for totes for irrigation
The grade rail

Eight grades, from new to damaged

The season strip

One year of totes in South Florida

Sources: NOAA National Hurricane Center, CDC and Miami-Dade County, reviewed November 11, 2026. The cone shape is a drawing of the season, never a forecast.

November to April

Dry months

Growers irrigate hardest. Rinsed and reconditioned totes go to nurseries and farms for irrigation, fertigation mixing and spray water.

May to October

Rainy season

Miami-Dade asks residents to drain or cover anything holding standing water. A catchment tote gets screened openings and gets used, not left to sit.

June 1 to November 30

Hurricane season

NOAA puts the climatological peak around September 10. CDC says store at least a gallon per person per day for three days, and replace it every six months.

Around September 10

The peak

An empty tote catches wind like a sail. Strap it down or move it in before the cone points your way.

Read the storm-season guide

Clear the dock

Got empties stacking up in Doral?

Send the count, the size and the last contents from the SDS. We reply by email with the grade and the path that fits.

  • Count and size 275 or 330 gallon, how many.
  • Grade as-is, rinsed, dirty or damaged, in your words.
  • Last contents from the label or the safety data sheet.
  • RCRA empty? Over 119 gallons, a container that held hazardous waste is empty when no more than one inch, or 0.3% of its capacity by weight, is left. Acute hazardous waste needs triple rinsing.
Sell your emptiesPrint the load sheet
un31HA1/Y09 / 24USARETEST 03 / 26STACK –––– kgGROSS –––– kg123456

An illustrative plate. Real ones differ tote to tote; the dashes stand for numbers you read off yours.

Read the plate

Six lines on the UN plate decide a purchase

  1. 1
    Design code

    31HA1/Y: a composite IBC, plastic inner receptacle in a steel outer, for liquids. The letter is the packing group.

  2. 2
    Manufacture date

    Month and year the tote was made. It starts the 2.5-year clock for the leakproofness test.

  3. 3
    Country and maker

    Who made the tote, marked on the plate under 49 CFR 178.703.

  4. 4
    Retest date

    Month and year of the last leakproofness test and inspection. A tote in hazmat service needs one every 2.5 years.

  5. 5
    Stacking load

    Marked in kilograms on the plate. Sources disagree on how high totes stack, so read the plate on the tote in front of you.

  6. 6
    Maximum gross mass

    The most the tote may weigh full, also on the plate. Check it before you fill with anything heavier than water.

Reading the UN plate: 31HA1 and more

Three counties

Where totes are asked for

Miami-Dade County

PortMiami and the airport cargo through Doral and Medley, plus the Redland nurseries that make this county first in the US for ornamental plants.

All 13 cities

Broward County

Port Everglades, which spans Fort Lauderdale, Hollywood and Dania Beach, and the food distributors of Pompano Beach.

All 11 cities

Palm Beach County

The Port of Palm Beach in Riviera Beach, and sugarcane, sweet corn and bell pepper country around Belle Glade.

All 9 cities
Guides

Straight answers, each dated

All guides

Ask for totes

Ask for totes

Buy or sell, the size, the grade, how many and where. We read the last contents before we answer.

  • Tell us what the totes will hold next.
  • Tell us what they last held.
  • Say whether you need food-grade history.

Prefer email? Write to info@miamiusedtotes.com. We do not post a phone number or a yard address.

Ask for totesSell empties