§ 04.7Services / Site Cleanouts
That corner of
the yard nobody
wants to deal with.
Fifteen years of accumulated totes. Some empty, some part-full, some with labels that have weathered off, stacked four deep behind the building. It is the job everyone postpones because it is complicated — and complicated is exactly what we do.
- Scope
- Whole-yard clearing
- Visit
- Usually one
- Assessment
- Free
- Unknowns
- Handled
§ 04.7.1Why these jobs stall
Four problems that make a cleanout sit for a decade.
A yard of mixed totes is not one problem; it is four overlapping ones, and most contractors can only solve one of them. That is why nothing happens.
01
Nobody knows what's in them
Labels weather off. Records move with staff who left. A part-full tote with no declaration is a disposal liability of unknown size, and that uncertainty is enough to stop the whole project.
We profile unknowns on site before anything moves.
02
They're mixed
Six capacities, four pallet types, a couple of stainless units, some cages with no bottles, three that are full of rainwater. A scrap merchant wants one of those categories and will not take the rest.
We take all of it, in one visit, and grade it individually.
03
Access is bad
Stacked four deep in a corner, behind a fence, on gravel, with a forklift that hasn't run since 2019. Normal freight simply cannot get at them.
We bring the equipment, including the forklift.
04
Nobody knows if it costs or pays
If the answer might be a large bill, it is easier not to ask. So the pile grows another year.
A free assessment tells you the number before you commit.
20–40%
Of a typical cleanout turns out to be reusable
Which is why cleanouts frequently come out as a credit rather than a cost. Weather damage is mostly cosmetic; a bottle that has sat empty under a tarp for six years usually still holds pressure.
§ 04.7.2The visit
How a cleanout actually runs.
- 01
Photo assessment
Send photographs of the pile from a few angles, plus a rough count and anything you know about what the units held. We come back with an indicative figure — cost or credit — within a day or two.
Free, no site visit needed
- 02
Site visit, if it's warranted
For larger or more uncertain jobs we come and look. We walk the pile, sample-check unknowns, assess access and equipment needs, and give you a firm number.
Free, typically 1–2 hours on site
- 03
Residue profiling plan
Any part-full units are identified and a profiling approach agreed. Unknowns get field-screened for compatibility class; anything that needs lab characterisation is quoted separately.
Before anything is moved
- 04
The clearing visit
Equipment arrives sized to the access. Units are pulled, counted, sorted by disposition and loaded. Most yards clear in a single day; very large accumulations take two or three.
Usually one day on site
- 05
Grading and settlement
Units are graded individually at Harvey. You get a per-unit breakdown showing what was reusable, what was rebottled, what was reprocessed — and the settlement against it.
Within 5 business days of collection
- 06
Documentation pack
Waste manifests for anything that went to licensed disposal, destination records by stream, and a Reclaim Ledger certificate for the diverted volume.
For your own compliance file
| Category | Typical share | Disposition |
|---|---|---|
| Empty, sound, reusable | 28% | Wash, test, back into service — paid to you |
| Empty, cosmetically poor | 24% | Grade B / B- service — paid to you |
| Empty, failed bottle, sound cage | 19% | Rebottling line — paid at cage value |
| Cages and pallets without bottles | 11% | Reuse or mill-grade scrap — paid |
| Rainwater-filled | 8% | Drained on site, then as above — paid |
| Part-full, declarable product | 7% | Residue profiled, quoted case by case |
| Part-full, unknown product | 3% | Field screened, profiled, quoted |
Shares are averaged across our cleanout history. The two part-full rows are the only ones that can carry a cost; everything else is a credit.
Unknowns: how we handle them
The unlabelled part-full tote is the thing that stops most cleanouts. Our approach:
- Field screening on site — pH, appearance, odour, simple compatibility indicators
- Classification into a compatibility class for safe consolidation
- Segregated handling so incompatible unknowns never share a container
- Lab characterisation quoted separately where screening is inconclusive
- A clear upfront statement of what the worst case costs
- 1day
- Typical clearing visit
- Free
- Assessment
- 0
- Components landfilled
- 5days
- Settlement after collection
Larger yards take two or three.
Photos or site visit, no charge either way.
Even from the worst piles.
With per-unit breakdown.
§ 04.7.3Who calls us for this
Five situations, one phone call.
- Plant closures and decommissioning — a whole site's accumulation at once
- Lease exits where the yard has to be clear by a date
- Environmental compliance findings requiring a documented clearance
- New EHS managers inheriting an accumulation they did not create
- Acquisitions where the acquired site came with a surprise
- Deadline-driven jobs
- We schedule to your date, not ours
- Documentation
- Manifests and destination records as standard
- Insurance
- Full cover on site and in transit
- Site induction
- Our crews complete your induction process
§ 04.7.4Cleanouts, questioned
The things people worry about.
What if some totes contain something genuinely dangerous?
Field screening is designed to catch exactly that before anything is moved or consolidated. If we find something on our declared exclusion list, we stop, tell you what it appears to be, and recommend a specialist handler. We will not quietly take it and work it out later.
Will this cost me money or make me money?
Usually the latter. Across our cleanout history, roughly three quarters of jobs settle as a credit to the customer. The ones that cost are the ones with a high proportion of part-full units carrying material that needs licensed disposal — and the free assessment tells you which category you are in before you commit.
Do you need the yard emptied of other stuff first?
No. Tell us what else is in the way and we will plan access around it. We clear totes from behind, under and between other equipment routinely.
Can you do this under a deadline?
Yes, and most cleanouts are deadline-driven — a lease exit or a closure date. Give us the date and the count and we will tell you honestly whether we can meet it.
What documentation do I get?
Waste manifests for anything going to licensed disposal, destination records by material stream, a per-unit grading breakdown, and a Reclaim Ledger certificate for the diverted volume. Enough for a compliance file and for an ESG report.
The assessment is free
Send us photos of the worst corner of your yard.
You'll have an indicative number within a day or two — and it is more often a credit than a cost.