§ 02.1Sustainability / The Reclaim Ledger
The Reclaim Ledger.
Our numbers, in public.
Every sustainability claim on this website resolves to arithmetic you can run yourself. Set a quantity, choose what happens to the totes, and the ledger computes the saving against the baseline of building the same containers new — then issues a certificate number that reproduces the exact calculation.
- Baseline
- 315 lb CO₂e / new tote
- Paths
- Reuse · Rebottle · Reprocess
- Factors
- Published below
- Offsets used
- None
§ 02.1.1The instrument
Run it.
Drag the quantity, switch paths, and watch the figures and the comparison resolve. Nothing here is rounded in our favour, and the baseline is the honest one: a brand-new composite IBC, cradle to gate.
Live instrument
The Reclaim Ledger
Set a quantity, choose what happens to the totes, and see exactly what staying in the loop is worth — measured against building the same totes new.
- Certificate
- RL-0IWB-LHO0
One truckload is roughly 48 totes. Drag to your real volume — or jump to a preset.
Reclaim path
31,440lb CO₂e
Emissions avoided
Same as taking 35,326 miles off the road.
94,320gallons
Process water saved
Equal to 5,484 eight-minute showers.
12,960lb
Virgin material displaced
HDPE resin plus steel cage and pallet stock never mined or moulded.
78.0cu yd
Landfill volume diverted
Measured crushed, as a landfill would actually receive them.
7,440kWh
Process energy avoided
Runs an average US home for 252 days.
655tree-years
Sequestration equivalent
What a stand of mature trees would absorb in a full year.
Against building new
120 totes, cradle to gate
- Manufactured new37,800lb CO₂e
- Through our reuse line6,360lb CO₂e
Baseline of 315 lb CO₂e per new 275-gallon composite IBC: virgin HDPE bottle, galvanised steel cage, pallet, moulding energy and inbound freight.
Your reclaim certificate
RL-0IWB-LHO0
Quote this number back to us and we can reproduce the exact calculation line by line — same quantity, same path, same factors.
- Quantity
- 120 totes
- Path
- Reuse
- Avoided
- 31,440 lb CO₂e
Figures are per-unit averages for 275-gallon composite IBCs, derived from our own 2024 wash-line metering, resin supplier EPDs and US EPA WARM factors. Totes larger than 275 gallons scale roughly linearly by bottle mass. Full methodology on the Impact Report page.
§ 02.1.2The factors
Every number the ledger uses.
Per 275-gallon composite IBC, measured against manufacturing that same container new from virgin material. Larger formats scale roughly linearly by bottle mass.
| Path | CO₂e (lb) | Water (gal) | Virgin material (lb) | Landfill (cu yd) | Energy (kWh) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Reuse | 262 | 786 | 108 | 0.65 | 62 |
| Rebottle | 176 | 310 | 70 | 0.65 | 26 |
| Reprocess | 53 | 395 | 38 | 0.65 | 31 |
Virgin material combines HDPE resin and galvanised steel stock. The reuse path displaces both; the rebottle path displaces the steel only; the reprocess path recovers resin that displaces virgin HDPE downstream.
| Component | Mass | Share of CO₂e | lb CO₂e | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| HDPE bottle | 38 lb | 40% | 126 | Polymerisation, pelletizing, blow moulding |
| Galvanised steel cage | 70 lb | 42% | 132 | Tube drawing, cutting, welding, hot-dip galvanising |
| Pallet base | 32 lb | 11% | 35 | Composite average across plastic, steel and timber |
| Assembly & inbound freight | — | 7% | 22 | Fitting, labelling, resin-plant-to-filler freight |
| Total | 140 lb | 100% | 315 | Cradle to gate, per unit |
Derived from resin supplier environmental product declarations, steel mill published figures and US EPA WARM factors, cross-checked against our own inbound freight records.
| Equivalent | Factor | Source basis |
|---|---|---|
| Miles driven | 0.89 lb CO₂ per mile | Average US passenger vehicle, EPA |
| Tree-years | 48 lb CO₂ per tree per year | Mature hardwood sequestration estimate |
| Showers | 17.2 gal per shower | Average 8-minute US shower |
| Home-days | 29.5 kWh per home per day | Average US residential consumption |
§ 02.1.3How a certificate works
One number, reproducible forever.
The certificate ID is a deterministic hash of the quantity and the path. The same two inputs always produce the same ID — which means you can quote it back to us years later and we can rebuild the calculation line by line.
- 01
You set the inputs
A quantity between 1 and 1,200 totes, and one of three reclaim paths. Nothing else affects the result.
No hidden variables
- 02
The ledger applies published factors
Each path multiplies the quantity by the per-tote factors in the table above. No adjustment, no weighting, no 'equivalent' conversions behind the scenes.
Factors published on this page
- 03
A certificate ID is derived
A deterministic hash of the path and quantity produces an ID in the form RL-XXXX-XXXX. Identical inputs always yield an identical ID.
No database, no tracking
- 04
You attach it to a request
The Attach to a quote button carries the certificate, the quantity, the path and the modelled savings into the quote form, so our reply references the same arithmetic you saw.
Straight into the lead form
Where we deliberately understate
Three savings the ledger does not count, because we cannot measure them precisely enough to publish:
- Avoided outbound freight for your disposal. If your empties were previously going to a landfill or a broker, those truck miles disappear. We do not know your previous arrangement, so we score it as zero.
- Avoided landfill methane and leachate management. Real, well documented, and highly site-specific. Scored as zero.
- The second, third and nineteenth reuse. The ledger prices a single cycle. A tote that goes around six more times after this one delivers six more times the saving.
Where we could be accused of overstating
In fairness, one figure deserves scrutiny. The reprocess path credits recovered HDPE with displacing virgin resin one-for-one. In reality recycled HDPE often substitutes at a discount because of quality constraints. We apply a 1.0 substitution ratio because our flake is single-stream, hot-washed and sold into applications that accept it directly — but if you want a conservative view, discount the reprocess CO₂e figure by 20%.
§ 02.1.4Questions about the ledger
Fair challenges, answered.
Why is the reuse path worth so much more than the recycling path?
Because recycling recovers material and reuse recovers manufacturing. Roughly 60% of a new tote’s carbon is in forming, welding and galvanising — processes that recycling throws away and reuse keeps entirely. See the carbon math article for the long-hand version.
Does the ledger include the emissions of your own operation?
Yes. The 53 lb CO₂e figure for a reused tote includes water heating, the test cycle, on-site handling and outbound freight from Harvey. It is a net saving, not a gross one.
What about totes larger than 275 gallons?
Scale roughly linearly by bottle mass. A 330-gallon unit carries about 18% more HDPE and a correspondingly larger cage, so multiply the factors by about 1.18. We keep the ledger on a single format rather than guessing at your mix.
Can I use these numbers in my own ESG reporting?
You can use them as a supplier-provided estimate, with the factors and sources cited from this page. If your reporting framework needs a formal attestation of the quantities you actually sent us, ask — we can produce that from our intake records.
Why no carbon offsets anywhere in this?
Because we do not buy any. Every figure here is an emission that did not happen, not an emission that happened and was paid for elsewhere. We think the distinction matters.
From model to load
The ledger is only arithmetic until a truck shows up.
Run your real volume, hit Attach to a quote, and the certificate travels into the form with the numbers intact.