55 gallon drum recycling

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55 gallon drums are very common nowadays in the storage and transport of various industrial products and chemicals as well as in the storage and transport of consumer foods such as tomato juice concentrates and such. As a result there is a large quantity of these 55 gallon drums in circulation throughout industry. Being environmentally sensitive nowadays, everyone strives to recycle and reuse all items and fifty five gallon barrels and drums are no exception. In this article, we will explore some basic steps that one needs to take to ensure safe reuse and recycling of 55 gallon drums.

The first step in recycling is to identify where a specific used 55 gallon drum can be re-deployed. For example, a drum that has been used for transporting a liquid, that has started leaking from its sides can be re-used to store and transport bigger size solids such as absorbent pads or industrial rags after cutting the top off and replacing with a re-closeable lid.

If a liquid carrying drum is no longer needed to carry the same liquid, but can be used to store and transport a different liquid, then it is imperative that the drum be thoroughly washed off the previous material. This is usually done by a triple rinsing method. When using this alternative, it is advisable to ensure that the former material and the latter material will not react with each other. This is because no matter how thoroughly you have conducted the cleaning process, there is a chance that some residue still remains and you do want to eliminate all possibilities of cross contamination and inter reaction.

Generally it is preferred to let 55 gallon drums slated for recycling and reuse be assigned to progressively lower levels of materials carried. An example will make this clear. If a certain metal drum was used to receive flammable isopropyl alcohol used in a certain industrial cleaning line and after the drum is empty, it is assigned for re-use for a different material, then after triple rinsing, it can be used to store and transport spent water based coolant from machining machines. Once this use has been accomplished and the spent coolant has been transported, the top can be cut off and then sent for use to store metal chips and shavings from machine shops. Thus the 55 gallon drum has been progressively carrying materials that pose lesser risks every time it has been assigned for recycling.

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