Case Study: A Midwest Industrial Cleaner's Closed-Loop Program

Starting state

700 IBCs shipped per month, all new units bought at roughly $215 each landed. Annual packaging spend approximately $1.81M. Empties at downstream distributors and end customers went to scrap. No carbon-impact tracking.

Program design

A 2,100-unit dedicated pool was built over five months — partly from existing inventory we had on hand and partly from reconditioned units we sourced specifically for the program. The pool was sized to accommodate roughly 90-day cycle time (production fill → distribution → end-customer use → recovery → reconditioning → back to production).

Reverse logistics were built around three regional consolidation hubs the customer's distribution already touched, plus monthly milk-runs through the top 20 end-customer locations.

Operational results

• Recovery rate of 94% (target was 90%).
• Average pool cycle time 86 days (target was 90).
• Reconditioning batch turn 6 business days average (target was 7).
• Three pool top-ups over the first 18 months; no shortages.

Cost results

Annual packaging spend dropped to about $1.12M — a 38% reduction. Reverse logistics costs were absorbed into the per-unit reconditioning fee; no separate freight bill to manage.

Sustainability results

Annual avoided HDPE: roughly 95 metric tons. Annual avoided CO₂e: roughly 2,100 metric tons. Both numbers documented and audited; both line items in the customer's 2022 sustainability disclosure.