Environmental Impact

How Does Buckner Barrels Protect the Environment?

Buckner Barrels presents a significant benefit to the environment through our reconditioning activities. See more about the specific results of that below.

Since 1973, Buckner Barrels has maintained a strict 0% discharge policy – all waste products (including wastewater) are treated and reused on site using our proprietary processes. Additionally, we are the only reconditioner in the United States to operate a fully permitted on-site incinerator to dispose of the residues from our reconditioning processes. As a further symbol of our commitment to the environment and the importance of energy efficiency, we capture the heat from the incineration of these residues and use it to provide steam to run our plant.

We take our environmental stewardship very seriously – in fact, it is a cornerstone of our business. In our entire history, we have never received a notice of violation from any environmental or occupational health regulatory agency (OSHA, EPA, ADEM, etc.). You can find our enforcement and compliance history on the Environmental Protection Agency’s website here. We both welcome and encourage our customers to visit our facilities to see how we do what we do. The reality of today’s strict environmental regulation demands that all producers of secondary materials ensure that these products are handled and disposed of in compliance with all current laws and rules. All we ask is that you contact us to schedule a plant inspection – it is difficult to accommodate “drop-in” visits.

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How Does Buckner Barrels Protect Our Customers?

The short answer to this question is that we do all that we can to operate within the confines of all requisite environmental, hazardous materials, and transportation laws. To further protect our customers, we maintain a full suite of general and products liability insurance (including significant umbrella coverage) as well as pollution insurance.

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How is Buckner Barrels Different than Recyclers?

Many people think that reconditioning and recycling are synonymous – in fact they are not. Recycling involves reclaiming raw materials (primarily through energy intensive melting processes) from existing materials whereas reconditioning refers to the cleaning, treating, and testing of existing packaging materials so that they may be reused (for more about reconditioning, click here). This critical difference allows reconditioners, like Buckner Barrels, to prevent millions of pounds of greenhouse gasses from being emitted into the atmosphere annually, as reconditioning is less energy intensive than recycling. Additionally, container emptiers can quickly run afoul of regulations if they are recycling raw containers. Click here to read more about the risks of recycling raw containers.

Not all drums will meet the criteria of being reusable. If drums cannot be reused (i.e. they have major structural defects, etc.) they will then be recycled by us, but only after being cleaned by wash or thermal processes. However, we always prefer to find uses for containers if at all possible and turn to recycling as a last alternative.

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What are the results of Buckner Barrels’ Activities?

By reconditioning drums and other containers versus, Buckner Barrels prevents the discharge of the equivalent of 120 tons of CO2 emissions per week (this is more than 6,000 tons per year!). Throughout our history, Buckner Barrels has prevented the release of more than 100,000 tons of CO2 into our atmosphere.

How many miles in a 4WD Hummer does the annual CO2 savings from Buckner Barrels represent?

How many flights could a person take from Los Angeles to New York with Buckner Barrels’ annual CO2 savings?

How many homes could you heat and cool with the annual greenhouse gas savings from Buckner Barrels?

How many trees would be required to remove the same amount of CO2 that Buckner Barrels saves on an annual basis?

How many tons of coal at an electrical generation plant does Buckner Barrels’ annual savings of CO2 represent?

Preventing the release of greenhouse gases is not the only way that Buckner Barrels protects the environment. By reconditioning drums and other containers, Buckner Barrels prevents the use of 194 tons of iron ore and 77 tons of coal per week, which is over 10,116 tons of ore and 4,046 tons of coal per year. Buckner Barrels’ mineral savings allows approximately 1,000,000 cubic feet of natural topography to remain in place every year (or enough to fill up 11 Olympic size swimming pools).

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Where does Buckner Barrels fit into the Packaging Waste Heirarchy?

Buckner Barrels’ primary activities are squarely in the top three levels of the Packaging Waste Hierarchy (although, if containers do not meet the criteria for being reconditioned, they will be cleaned and then recycled).

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What are the Elements of the Packaging Waste Hierarchy?¹

• Prevention – Waste prevention is a primary goal. Packaging should be used only where needed. Proper packaging can also help prevent waste. Packaging plays an important part in preventing loss or damage to the packaged-product (contents). Usually, the energy content and material usage of the product being packaged are much greater than that of the package. A vital function of the package is to protect the product for its intended use: if the product is damaged or degraded, its entire energy and material content may be lost.

• Minimization – (also ”source reduction’’) The mass and volume of packaging (per unit of contents) can be measured and used as one of the criteria to minimize during the package design process. Usually “reduced” packaging also helps minimize costs. Packaging engineers continue to work toward reduced packaging.

• Reuse - The reuse of a package or component for other purposes is encouraged. Returnable packaging has long been useful (and economically viable) for closed loop logistics systems. Inspection, cleaning, repair and recouperage are often needed.

• Recycling – Recycling is the reprocessing of materials (pre- and post-consumer) into new products. Emphasis is focused on recycling the largest primary components of a package: steel, aluminum, papers, plastics, etc. Small components can be chosen which are not difficult to separate and do not contaminate recycling operations.

• Energy recovery – Waste-to-energy and Refuse-derived fuel in approved facilities are able to make use of the heat available from the packaging components.

• Disposal – Incineration and/or placement in a sanitary landfill are needed for some materials. Material content should be checked for potential hazards to emissions and ash from incineration and leachate from landfill.

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