Octagonal Corrugated Bulk Box with Cover

A bulk box, also known as a bulk bin, skid box, pallet box, bin box, gaylord, or octabin is a

pallet A pallet (also called a skid) is a flat transport structure, which supports goods in a stable fashion while being lifted by a forklift, a pallet jack, a front loader, a jacking device, or an erect crane. A pallet is the structural foundat ...

-size

box A box (plural: boxes) is a container used for the storage or transportation of its contents. Most boxes have flat, parallel, rectangular sides. Boxes can be very small (like a matchbox) or very large (like a shipping box for furniture), and can ...

used for storage and shipping of bulk quantities. In the U.S. and Canada, the term ''gaylord'' is sometimes used for triplewall corrugated pallet boxes; this is due to the first bulk bins being manufactured by the original Gaylord Container Company of

St. Louis St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the bi-state metropolitan area, which e ...

, which was acquired by Crown Zellerbach of

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

in 1955.

Construction

Bulk boxes are often made of

corrugated fiberboard Corrugated fiberboard or corrugated cardboard is a type of packaging material consisting of a fluted corrugated sheet and one or two flat linerboards. It is made on "flute lamination machines" or "corrugators" and is used for making corrugated ...

, either doublewall or triplewall. Many corrugated bulk boxes have covers. The main body of some is similar to a ''half slotted container'' with flaps on the bottom; others have a separate base (similar to the cover) and a sleeve for side walls. Additional corrugated liners and box reinforcement are sometimes used to control bulging.

Wooden box A wooden box is a container made of wood for storage or as a shipping container. Construction may include several types of wood; lumber (timber), plywood, engineered woods, etc. For some purposes, decorative woods are used. Boxes as ship ...

es are also used for bulk

packaging Packaging is the science, art and technology of enclosing or protecting products for distribution, storage, sale, and use. Packaging also refers to the process of designing, evaluating, and producing packages. Packaging can be described as a co ...

; boxes made of

aluminum Aluminium (aluminum in American and Canadian English) is a chemical element with the symbol Al and atomic number 13. Aluminium has a density lower than those of other common metals, at approximately one third that of steel. It has ...

and

steel Steel is an alloy made up of iron with added carbon to improve its strength and fracture resistance compared to other forms of iron. Many other elements may be present or added. Stainless steels that are corrosion- and oxidation-resistant ty ...

are common in

heavy industry Heavy industry is an industry that involves one or more characteristics such as large and heavy products; large and heavy equipment and facilities (such as heavy equipment, large machine tools, huge buildings and large-scale infrastructure); o ...

. Reusable plastic totes (molded or

corrugated plastic Corrugated plastic or corriboard – also known under the tradenames of Cartonplast, Polyflute, Coroplast, FlutePlast, IntePro, Proplex, Correx, Twinplast, Corriflute or Corflute – refers to a wide range of extruded twinwall plastic-sheet prod ...

) are used for some products and logistics chains. For some products, inner plastic liners or

bin bag A bin bag, rubbish bag (British English), garbage bag, bin liner, trash bag (American English) or refuse sack is a disposable bag used to contain solid waste. Such bags are useful to line the insides of waste containers to prevent the insides ...

s are used to protect the contents. Sealed inner bags with integral valves are sometimes used for liquids. Most bulk boxes are

recyclable Recycling is the process of converting waste materials into new materials and objects. The recovery of energy from waste materials is often included in this concept. The recyclability of a material depends on its ability to reacquire the p ...

, returnable, or reusable. Some styles of boxes fold (knock down) or come apart for easier return shipments.

Use

Bulk boxes are used for loose parts, mixed small

containers A container is any receptacle or enclosure for holding a product used in storage, packaging, and transportation, including shipping. Things kept inside of a container are protected on several sides by being inside of its structure. The term ...

, granular materials, powders, liquids, etc. Use in industry is common: shipping and storage of bulk intermediate materials prior to further processing or packaging. They are sometimes used to collect and ship materials for

recycling Recycling is the process of converting waste materials into new materials and objects. The recovery of energy from waste materials is often included in this concept. The recyclability of a material depends on its ability to reacquire the p ...

and

waste Waste (or wastes) are unwanted or unusable materials. Waste is any substance discarded after primary use, or is worthless, defective and of no use. A by-product, by contrast is a joint product of relatively minor economic value. A waste prod ...

. When used to ship

hazardous waste Hazardous waste is waste that has substantial or potential threats to public health or the environment. Hazardous waste is a type of dangerous goods. They usually have one or more of the following hazardous traits: ignitability, reactivity, co ...

dangerous goods Dangerous goods, abbreviated DG, are substances that when transported are a risk to health, safety, property or the environment. Certain dangerous goods that pose risks even when not being transported are known as hazardous materials ( syllabi ...

, box construction and use are highly regulated.

ASTM standards

* D5168 Standard Practice for Fabrication and Closure of Triple-wall Corrugated Containers * D6179 Standard Test Methods for Rough Handling of Unitized Loads and Large Shipping Cases and Crates * D6251 Standard Specification for Wood-Cleated Panelboard Shipping Boxes * D6254 Standard Specification for Wirebound Pallet-Type Wood Boxes * D6256 Standard Specification for Wood-Cleated Shipping Boxes and Skidded, Load-Bearing Bases * D6573 Standard Specification for General Purpose Wirebound Shipping Boxes * D6880-05 Standard Specification for wooden boxes

Construction

Use

ASTM standards

See also

References

Further reading