Plastic Buckets

[paintingpreacher]

What is a food grade plastic bucket? I have a few that came from the local Wal-mart deli. Some in supply books say food grade,, some do not.. Are the (white) 5 gal. buckets at Lowe's OK for honey??
I have heard if the bucket has a triangle on the bottom with a 2 inside, it means food grade. But even paint buckets have the triangle with the 2 inside and I know they are not food grade.

[Dave W]

>What is a food grade plastic bucket . . .
One you can eat??? smile.gif

No, a plastic that is safe for food contact/storage.

[Ian]

>>Wal-mart deli

They should be fine, assuming they held food.
I have a neighbour using used 5 gallon pickle pails as feeder pails. Cheap, and a good as the pails you will buy to feed them.

Just make sure it held a food grade material before you use it, would'nt want to cause a problem over a few bucks

[Jim Fischer]

Pickle pails???

How the heck did they get the pickle smell out
of the plastic?

I'd be afraid that the combs would end up
smelling like pickles after deploying such
pails as feeders.

I've heard multiple sob stories over the years
of new beekeepers who used such pails for
extracted honey, only to find that they ended
up with pickle-flavored honey. Even when they
thought that they had gotten the things cleaned
out to the point where no odor was detectable.

The holy grail of el-cheapo beekeeping is
the 5-gallon pails used by bakeries for
frostings and such. Used to be one could
get dozens of them for free, or for a buck
each. Nice gaskets on them too, only been
used once.

[bluegrass]

Most plastic pails are foodgrade, but are not after something like paint is stored in them. Foodgrade just means that the plastic is food safe!

[BjornBee]

I have a contract with a local dunkin donuts store. I pay one dollar each. They have 60 pound and 40 pound buckets. The nice thing, is that clean them before I get them. They hold them till they have a certain number, and call for me to pick them up.

[pkwilbur]

Bjorn, I agree with you, I smell pickels a mile away and can never get it out. Frosting buckets are the way to go. Old Glass pickle jars from the local butcher are a thing of the past also for feeding. They use plastic also....dang! Walmart, Meijers and the larger mainstream bakeries are now the ticket to purchase or take off their hands the frosting buckets. Although in my local store, I have a few employeed gals that horde them before general public can get there hands on them. LOL I chalk it up to special privilegeds. Cant argue that!

[ekrouse]

Food Grade plastics are those marked in the recycle triangle with the following:

#1 polyethylene terephthalate (PET or PETE) - usually for soft drinks, water bottles, ketchup and salad dressing, peanut butter, pickle, jelly and jam jars

#2 high density polyethylene (HDPE) - used mostly for milk, water and juice bottles, yogurt and margarine tubs, cereal box liners, and grocery, trash and retail bags. Yes, these are the kind the buckets at Home Depot and Lowes are made out of... and yes, paint companies use them as well as other chemical companies. They are still food grade. The manufacturer sells them to everyone. Be sure not to reuse one that had chemicals since they will be absorbed by the plastic and then contaminate the food. I buy all of my buckets from Home Depot since I like the white ones without any printing.

#4 low density polyethylene (LDPE) - bread and frozen food bags and squeezable bottles

#5 polypropylene (PP) - margarine tubs

-Eric

Text courtesy of www.deliciousorganics.com (http://www.deliciousorganics.com) See their website for more information.

[paintingpreacher]

Thanks to all for the good information. I do get some frosting buckets from the local Wal-Mart but kind of a hasle walking out the door with "FREE"??? buckets. The guy at the door doesn't believe anything is free at Wal-Mart.

HAPPY NEW YEAR

[Michael Bush]

I've gotten most of mine from donut shops.

[JWG]

Used to get em free from donut shops. Now they charge for them IF you're lucky enough to find a shop that even uses them. The franchise shops get the already-made donuts shipped in now, they only use the donut fillings at the central bakeries. redface.gif (
Unfortunately the good sturdy 5 gal. pails are almost 5 bucks apiece from the bee suppliers.

[amymcg]

go to the grocery stores that have bakeries

[Michael Bush]

I usually have to pay a dollar a piece for the buckets from the donut shops, but they are good, clean buckets.

[paintingpreacher]

Pickle Buckets!!! Hmm,,
I have a honey customer who raises about 1/4 acre of cucumbers. Told me he and his family of 5 will eat about 150 quarts of dill pickles each year. That seems like a lot of pickles to me.
Maybe I should get one of those pickle buckets just for his honey. He might like pickle flavored honey... smile.gif

[Ian]

Never said he held honey in the pickle pails, used them as fall feeding pails.
He hasnt commented on pickel smelling combs, mabey he does? Maybe the bees like it:)

I wouldnt suggest storing honey in second hand containers, just for that problem alone. Containers are too cheap to risk that oversight.
But as I was suggesting, you can get use out of second hand food grade containers in other areas of the beekeeping operation,
if it works, run with it!