Used 55 gal. for containers

[Brent]

Hi guys,  I am new to all this stuff.  I have a local dairy that told me I could have as many 55 gal poly drums as I wanted for free.  I looked at them and found that most of them held sanitizers.  Would these be ok to use after rinsing and filling and letting the sun warm the water and some more rinsing? 3 of the barrels I have contained hydrogen peroxide, peroxyacetic acid, octanoic acid and 1 other barrel has had hydrogen peroxide, lactic acid in it.  Whats your thoughts?  I don't want to kill fish or plants.

Brent

[Gus Cabrera]

Hi, Brent. I would find out if the plastic is food grade or inert to the chemicals they contained. I read somewhere that the grades are stamped on the drums themselves and from there you could just do a search for the properties of the material. My thoughts are that they would be highly inert so that there would be no reaction with the chemicals, and since they contained perxoides, they would have little translucency since peroxide breaks down in light. In any event, you've given me a great idea.

[Earl ward]

HI Brent
I would be careful when it comes to sanitizers being held in 55 gallon drums. The dairy would be using a food grade sanitizer but a lot of these sanitizers could be a caustic acid. This would leave a residue on the plastic. I would search for not only the drum plastic but also what the barrels held. Some food grade sanitizers are some nasty chemicals. If it contained a no rinse sanitizer I would feel a little better about using it. I would ask them at what stage of cleanup these chemicals were used and if they have to be rinsed off before the equipment can be used.The lactic acid and hydrogen peroxide should be ok after several rinses and airing out.

Earl
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