Water barrels and what they previously contained

What colour are the barrels ?

Did they say what the solvent was ? 

Is there a label on the barrel ?

Thanks for getting back to me.
The barrels are blue. No markings. He didn't say what the solvent was. There is a bit of smell. tetrachloroethene smells a bit like pears, doesn't it? It's not that smell. He said he normally sells the barrels for people exporting goods to Africa so the items are not damaged in transit!

Anton

I think blue barrels are food grade,  I’ll check that out.

Assuming the container looks fairly clean and does not have any gross level of contamination (oily or other liquid residues), and you can open it up to clean the inside, it can be decontaminated. 

Even a container that has some residue can be cleaned if the residue is not strongly greasy or tarry.  Requires an extra step.

Here is how.

Extra Step: wipe the interior with an absorbent material (kitchen roll or similar) to remove as much residue as you can.  Discard that soiled kitchen roll in the trash. Apply a liquid detergent, somewhat heavily (washing up liquid is fine).  Scrub, rinse Important: plan any decontamination to occur in a place where you can discard wash or rinse water into a drain connecting to a sanitary sewer, don't discard on the ground. The wastewater treatment process can treat low levels of most contaminants.  Make sure you are not running afoul of any UK or local laws!

1. If you just have a little lingering odor, or you completed the extra step above, clean again with washing up liquid and warm water, scrub thoroughly. (remember . . . sanitary sewer for water disposal).

2. Potable water rinse 3 times, (sanitary sewer disposal).

3. Rinse the inside with an inexpensive solvent, such as rubbing alcohol. A hand sprayer is good for this, huge quantities are not needed, a small amount will do.  Drain the alcohol into some absorbent material (like paper), allow to evaporate.  Discard paper in trash when dry.  Allow the barrel to air dry.

This is very loosely based on US Environmental Protection Agency methods for decontaminating field equipment for use in collecting environmental samples.  It should get your barrel clean enough to use to store water for the garden.

tetrachloroethene smells a bit like pears, doesn't it?

Anton

FWIW, I wouldn't compare the odor to pears. 

I'm old enough that I recall having a childhood surgery where the anesthetic was ether (back in the medical dark ages!!).  The odor of the ether, and my 5-year old self fighting against medical staff as it was applied, is the only thing I recall from the surgery. The odor of tetrachloroethene (also called perchloroethene or PCE) is comparable to that ether odor.

PCE is a solvent that has been used in dry cleaning. If PCE was used for dry cleaning where you live, you may have smelled it at a dry cleaning operation.