How to get FREE 55 gallon Drums

I used to work for a company that did spray foam insulation. There are 2 different chemicals that make up the spray foam. Long story short they cannot find companies to recycle the plastic barrels b/c of the chemical that was in them. The residual that is left in them pretty much either hardens into a thin film on the walls of the barrel which is harmless. Spray them out with some soap and water and you are good to go. I'm in NJ and every time I call to get a few barrels they BEG me to take all of them......like 200 empty barrels. So I in turn clean them out real quick and sell them for $15-20 a piece. I keep 3 or 4 for my use of course.........just an idea for you guys that have space to store them.



Joe

I'll have to check into that. As of now I buy a few at a time off CL at $15 a piece.

I usually cut the tops off of them for me but the ones I do sell I usually leave half of the tops on and have a ton of bungs on the side in case they want them for whatever reason. If I get 6 I'll cut 3 tops off and leave the other 3 alone. Instead of you buying them now and spending that hard earned $ you can now make some easy money!!

Would that chemical leach out if it was used as a rain barrel?

Would be great to score some free rain barrels but don't want to poison the garden.

Thanks

It should be fine...just give it a good wash out at the car wash..

The 55drums are nice but I love the totes....the 300 an 400 ones =P

Not as long as there is no "liquid" in the drum. It hardens like a lacquer to the sides. It's fairly easy to see as it's a copper/brown color. I think the one chemical is a reddish color.

I wouldn't advise using those in your graywater system without giving them a thorough cleaning. Do you really want to risk your entire garden not to mention your health cause you didn't take 10 minutes to wash out a barrel

You can also pick up free plastic barrels at car washes. that is how they get their soap. I grew up as a mason, so we always needed water barrels on the job and that is where we got them.

What are the 2 chemicals in the drums?

Polyurethane closed cell and Isocyanate in open cell. They both mix with the A side .The stuff that reacts with water. I would not use it for a rain barrel. Can provide link for MSDS

Thanks for the clarification, it's been quite a few years.