§ 02.3Sustainability / Impact Report
Impact Report
2009 – 2025.
Published figures, the factors behind them, the sources behind those, and a section at the end listing the numbers that went the wrong way. A report with no bad news in it is advertising.
- Period
- FY2009 – FY2025
- Basis
- Own records + EPA WARM
- Assurance
- Internal, unaudited
- Offsets
- None purchased
§ 02.3.1Headline figures
Cumulative since 2009.
These are the numbers in our footer. Here is where they come from.
- 412,000
- Totes reclaimed
- 24,700tons
- Material diverted
- 61,800tons
- CO₂e avoided
- 19.4Mgal
- Process water saved
Individually graded units, intake records.
Weigh-pad measured at intake.
Modelled against new-build baseline.
Net of our own wash consumption.
| Year | Totes reclaimed | Tons diverted | Tons CO₂e avoided | Reuse rate | Landfilled |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | 18,400 | 1,080 | 2,760 | 88.1% | 0 |
| 2017 | 21,900 | 1,290 | 3,290 | 89.4% | 0 |
| 2018 | 24,600 | 1,450 | 3,690 | 90.2% | 0 |
| 2019 | 27,800 | 1,640 | 4,170 | 91.0% | 0 |
| 2020 | 24,100 | 1,420 | 3,620 | 90.4% | 0 |
| 2021 | 31,200 | 1,840 | 4,680 | 92.1% | 0 |
| 2022 | 35,700 | 2,100 | 5,360 | 92.8% | 0 |
| 2023 | 38,900 | 2,290 | 5,840 | 93.3% | 0 |
| 2024 | 42,400 | 2,500 | 6,360 | 93.7% | 0 |
| 2025 | 45,100 | 2,660 | 6,770 | 93.9% | 0 |
2009–2015 figures are less reliable and are excluded from this table, though they are included in the cumulative headline numbers. Before the 2015 move to Harvey our record-keeping was a spreadsheet and a good memory.
§ 02.3.2Methodology
How each figure is built.
Four calculations, four sources. Anyone with the factors below and our tonnage can reproduce every headline number on this site.
Totes reclaimed
A direct count from intake records. One unit, individually graded, equals one tote reclaimed. We do not count a tote twice when it comes back around for a second reconditioning — repeat units are tracked by lot and excluded.
Tons diverted
Measured, not modelled. Every inbound load crosses a weigh pad. Tonnage diverted is inbound weight minus residues sent to licensed disposal. Because we landfill nothing, the entire remainder counts as diverted.
CO₂e avoided
Modelled. For each unit we take the baseline embodied impact of an equivalent new container (315 lb CO₂e for a 275-gallon composite, scaled by bottle mass for other formats) and subtract the actual impact of the path that unit took through our operation — including our own water heating, test energy, handling and outbound freight.
Process water saved
Modelled for the avoided virgin resin production, metered for our own consumption. Virgin HDPE production carries roughly 49 gallons of process water per pound of resin. Our wash line meters actual draw and recovery, so the saving figure is a true net.
Sources
- Resin impact factorsEnvironmental product declarations from our two primary HDPE suppliers, 2023 and 2024 editions.
- Steel and galvanisingPublished mill figures for drawn tube stock and hot-dip galvanising, North American average.
- Waste and recycling factorsUS EPA WARM model, version 16, for landfill diversion and recycling credits.
- Water intensity of resinSupplier EPD water footprint figures, cross-checked against published industry ranges.
- Our own operationWash-line metering, utility billing, test-rig run logs and outbound freight manifests, FY2024.
Assurance status
These figures are internally prepared and not third-party assured. We say that plainly because an unaudited number presented as audited is worse than no number at all. Our intake records, weigh tickets and utility meters are available to any customer who wants to verify a quantity they sent us.
§ 02.3.3The numbers that didn't flatter us
Where we got worse, or never got good.
Four figures we are not pleased with. They are here because a report that only contains improvements is not a report.
Timber pallet reuse: 71%
The worst number in this report. Hardwood deck boards fracture and nails pull, and our repair economics do not justify saving a pallet below a certain condition. The 29% we cannot reuse is chipped, not landfilled, but chipping is a downgrade and we know it.
Outbound freight intensity: up 4% since 2022
We expanded into longer lanes, which was good for diversion tonnage and bad for freight emissions per unit. Backhaul capture offsets some of it but not all. Honest accounting: our 48-state reach has a carbon cost.
Valve and gasket replacement: 61%
Nearly two thirds of units need a new valve. These are small virgin-plastic components and they are the one place where our process consistently consumes new material. We have found no reliable way to recondition a chemically attacked EPDM seal.
2020 volume: down 13%
Not a failure of ours, but it belongs in the record. Pandemic-year industrial slowdowns cut intake, which means roughly 3,700 totes that year went somewhere other than our line. We do not know where.
Reuse rate trend
- 201688.1%
- 201991%
- 202292.8%
- 202593.9%
Share of intake units that return to service as containers rather than being rebottled or reprocessed. The gains since 2016 come almost entirely from better grading, not better washing.
“If the report has no bad news in it, somebody edited it. We'd rather publish the timber pallet number and be trusted on the rest.”
Reproduce it yourself
Every factor in this report drives the live Reclaim Ledger.
Same numbers, same sources, running in your browser. Put in your own volume and check our arithmetic.
Looking for the commitment behind the zero figure in the landfill column? Read the zero-landfill pledge.