Customer Spotlight: A Water-Treatment Cooperative's Tote Program

The operating environment

The cooperative serves 12 member water utilities across two states. Each utility has its own receiving dock, its own chemistry mix, and its own purchasing process. Volume is steady, predictable, and modest at any single site — but aggregated across the cooperative, meaningful.

What we built

A cooperative-level master agreement that lets each member utility order against pre-negotiated pricing, with shipment routed direct from our facility to the specific utility dock. Empty-tote pickup is consolidated across the cooperative's regional service area on a bi-weekly schedule.

What it changed

• Member utility ordering complexity: dropped to a one-page PO against the master agreement.
• Average per-tank cost: dropped 22% versus prior individual procurement.
• Empty disposal cost: dropped to zero (we pay the buyback on consolidated pickups).
• Annual reporting: one consolidated sustainability summary covers the entire cooperative.

What we learned

Cooperative procurement models scale well for IBC reuse programs precisely because the consolidation logic is already familiar to the buyer. Where conventional manufacturer programs fight for reverse-logistics commitment, cooperatives are pre-wired for it.