The following information is designed to assist you when thinking about buying an IBC. We hope that it helps, however, if the information you require is not immediately obvious, please feel free to contact us.

IBC stands for Intermediate Bulk Container.

They are designed for the safe transportation of various liquids around the globe and are therefore extremely strong but highly portable with a pallet base designed for stacking when full up to three units high.

There is a screw cap lid on the top and a manually operated lever at the bottom that releases the stored liquid.

Our IBC’s are available on wood, plastic and metal bases in clear, opaque white, black or anti-static armoured finishes.

They are commonly found in industry and are used to transport a wide range of liquid products, from soaps to food flavourings to chemicals.

Besides the obvious industrial use, Toucan supplies IBC’s for a wide range of end purposes. The common ones include water butts, fuel containers, water store for farm animals and horses, mobile valeters water store, waste store for caravan sites, ballast, temporary homes for fish or aquaponics, and even hot tubs!

All of our the tanks are taken from industry and subsequently steam cleaned, vacuumed and treated. There will be the occasional scratch on the outside of the tank, but the insides are as new. There is no residue and the only odour will be that of the detergent used to clean them.

We would advise all prospective buyers to exercise extreme care if buying cheaper tanks from sites such as eBay where the seller is selling dirty tanks that are supposedly ‘easy to clean’.

Of course, some may well be easy to clean whilst others will contain harmful materials. Either way, unless you are in a position to collect and dispose of the waste washings and materials, you will be polluting the water course and damaging our environment.

Sellers who ask the customer to clean the tanks are irresponsible, lazy and should not be allowed to trade. Furthermore, they are putting the buyer at significant risk of harm.

IBCs supplied by Toucan Environmental are regularly used in the agricultural and equestrian world. The tanks are clean so animals can safely drink from them.

The majority of our reconditioned tanks are not, suitable for human drinking water, as in general, the tanks have not contained food grade products.

You will see in our shop however, that we do have reconditioned Opaque White tanks available that are food grade.

We also supply brand new food grade bottles in reconditioned cages. This makes the most of a redundant cage, whilst keeping the price down on a brand new unit. These tanks are factory fresh, odourless and perfect for all types of food and drink storage.

Toucan Environmental offers 2 different sizes. The larger one holds 1000 litres, and have a footprint of 1200mm x 1000mm x 1170mm high. The smaller tank holds 600 litres and has a footprint of 1200mm x 800mm x 1040mm high. These are maximum external measurements.

The outlet tap is on the smaller 1000/800mm dimension.

Dependent on the base pallet (plastic, metal or wood), they weigh between 50kgs and 70kgs when empty. They are not heavy but their size means that you will need to ensure that you have suitable access to wherever the tank is to be sited. Just to give an idea of ease of movement three or four lads will easily be able to lift one over a garden fence!

In industry, fork lift trucks are used to transport the IBC’s. The plastic bottle (inner tank) is therefore secured to a base pallet using a sturdy cage. We have stocks of all types of base. Options are wood, galvanised steel or HDPE plastic.

Black tanks have the advantage over clear tanks of blocking out the suns ultra-violet rays. This helps to keep water crystal clear for significantly longer over clear tanks. Black tanks also hide the contents, so should you be storing red diesel for example, the casual thief wont be attracted to it! Black tanks only disadvantage is the fact that without looking into the top, you cant see how much liquid is contained.

Yes – when used in industry, the stored liquids will be dispensed in one of two ways. Either via a submersible pump that is inserted via the top opening, or by opening the butterfly valve controlled tap at the very bottom of the tank.

We offer two outlet sizes, 55mm and 90mm.

We can supply spouts and Hozelock connectors for dispensing purposes.

Yes – although we would recommend purchasing either a spout (see picture) or Hozelock Connector (see picture). The spout is ideal if you need to fill a watering can, whilst the Hozelock connector allows you to fit a standard garden hose to your tank.

The higher the tank, the more pressure will be generated, although a full tank on the floor provides enough pressure to use a garden hose in conjunction with the Hozelock connector. Obviously, if you are using a spout, you will need to raise the tank in order to get the watering can underneath.

Yes – although you should build an external frame box for it, as the weight of the soil will cause the plastic sides and top to collapse.

Yes – they are designed to be stacked and can go 3 high when full, or 4 high when empty. You will need to ensure that the ground base is suitable if stacking 3 tanks, as the gross weight would be in excess of 3 tonnes once full.

Yes – using Hozelock Connectors it is possible to interlink as many tanks as you like. There are many ways to configure such a project, feel free to contact us for advice.

We offer a nationwide delivery service, with all IBCs being delivered within 3 days of your order.

We use a well established pallet network company for all our smaller deliveries.

Our own fleet of lorries and vans takes care of our larger deliveries.

Toucan Environmental is based in Bristol, in the South West of England.

Naturally the nearer that you are to this location, the cheaper the transport costs. The prices are worked out on postcodes, with the website calculating delivery cost at time of order.

We double stack our tanks, meaning the delivery cost is the same for one as it is for two. For orders of 11 or more tanks please contact us as we may be able to save you cost by using a dedicated vehicle.

Absolutely. We welcome collection. For information on how to find us please take a look at our Contact section.