Sell your used bulk bags

How the empties desk works

Empty bags pile up behind every fill line that discharges product. Our empties desk turns that pile into a pickup. You give us five facts, we sort the lot into what can be bought back and what goes for recycling, and we plan a truck to collect it.

We don't run a yard near you. A pickup goes from your dock to a supply partner who reconditions or recycles bags, and we arrange the freight between the two.

Buy-back or recycling

Bags that can return to service have to be multi-trip bags rated 6:1, with the label still readable, intact loops and seams, no holes, clean and dry inside, and a non-hazardous product in their history. They also need to have been stored out of the sun, since UV softens the fabric and turns its surface powdery.

Bags rated 5:1 are single-trip bags. The maker recommends they not be refilled, so we never route them back into service. They go to recycling with damaged multi-trip bags and anything whose label can't be read.

A mixed lot is normal. Most sites have some of each, and we sort by the photos and the description before the truck arrives so you know which way each part is going.

Bale or stack them

Loose bags are hard to load and impossible to count on a dock. Shake each bag empty, fold it flat, and either strap a stack of the same size into a bale or lay them flat on a pallet and stretch-wrap the pallet. Keep each pallet to one size and one condition if you can.

Store the stacks under cover until pickup. Rain makes bags heavy and can ruin a lot that would have qualified for buy-back. Sun does the same over a few weeks.

What we can't take

Bags that held hazardous material, unless your own process has cleaned and documented them to a standard a recycler will accept, are outside what we can collect. So are bags caked with product, bags stored outdoors for a long time, and bags mixed with general trash. If you're unsure, send photos and describe the prior contents; we'll tell you before anything is booked.

From photos to an offer

Once your description and pictures arrive, we read every label you sent and split the lot on paper: this many 6:1 bags that look fit for another trip, this many going to recycling, and anything we have to refuse. We then check which partner on your lane can take each part and what the freight costs to reach them.

You get back one reply: the split, the offer or charge for each part, the truck we'd send and a proposed window. Nothing is booked until you agree. If you'd rather keep the good bags for your own refills and send only the scrap, say so; that's a perfectly sound plan with 6:1 bags.

Who sends us empties

Any site that empties more bags than it fills ends up with a stack. Typical senders include resin compounders and molders who receive pellets in bags, feed mills and blenders, food plants that discharge ingredients into mixers, construction contractors finishing a job, and mineral processors. Each produces a different mix of 5:1 and 6:1 bags, and that mix decides how much of the lot can be bought back.

Keeping good bags good while they pile up

Empties rarely ship the day they are emptied. They wait in a corner until there are enough for a truck, and that wait is where buy-back value is lost. Pick a dry indoor spot away from forklift traffic, roof leaks, open doors and windows that catch afternoon light. Birds and rodents nest in loose fabric, so keep stacks tidy and strapped.

Turn labels outward as you stack, so they can be photographed without unfolding anything. Set aside a separate pile for bags that are plainly finished, so a torn bag doesn't drag a clean bale down with it. A cheap tarp over a pallet is no substitute for a roof: condensation gathers underneath it.