What should you do with your used bulk bags?

One of the biggest challenges often presented to a powder manufacturer is what to do with bulk bags once they have been emptied of their bulk material. Often times, these flexible intermediate bulk containers (FIBC) end up in landfills where they go through an extremely slow breakdown process, or they are incinerated. Either option is harmful to the environment. The best option is to either reuse your bulk bags or send them off to a recycling facility, if not fit for reuse.
However, simply throwing bulk bags into a waste bin takes up a lot of space and allows the residual fines inside the big bag to escape and pollute the surrounding work environment. Fortunately, Palamatic Process offers the CBB125 bulk bag compactor, a simple solution for the volume reduction and containment of used bulk bags.

Jumbo Bags (bulk bags) often can trap very small pockets of residual material even after they are fully emptied. If an operator is throwing the empty FIBC into a bin or using a basic trash compactor, this can disturb the finer particulates which will get into the atmosphere of your plant.

Good housekeeping is critical for several obvious reasons:

1. Keeping your workers safe and healthy
2. Avoid work environments that can lead to explosions
3. Possible recovery of fines

Our FIBC compactor unit is designed to provide dust tight operation and full containment of your used bulk bag disposal process. Once the bulk bag is introduced into the compactor, it remains fully contained thanks to the hinged interlocked feed doors and polyethylene sheath. As the bulk bags are collected into the sheath, the operator can zip tie the plastic shut and cut to remove it, trapping any dust inside the plastic. We can also provide a tapping to connect the compactor to an existing central dust network, or integrate a small independent dust filter onto the unit itself. By adding a means of dust filtration, we can fully ensure your work environment stays clean and safe during bulk bag disposal.

Empty bulk bags can take up a lot of space, even if being disposed of in a waste bin. Even though they are made of flexible material, they don’t exactly like to lay flat. Folding them can be tedious as well as a waste of your operator’s valuable time. By automating your disposal process, you can achieve time saved and reduce the overall footprint needed to store your used bulk bags.

The Palamatic Process bulk bag compactor works by using a direct drive motor that turns a large screw auger inside the feed chamber. The auger grabs and pushes the empty bulk bag into a cylindrical compaction tube. A polyethylene sleeve is fitted over the tube and held on by two (or more) rubber compression rings. The rubber rings provide the necessary tension for the bulk bags to build up against the sleeve and compact against each other. As the bulk bags build up inside the compaction tube, the resistance of the bags begins to push outward against the sleeve. In most production examples, our poly sleeve will contain anywhere from 3 – 7 bulk bags per meter of sheath.

Worried about available floor space? The CBB125 Jumbo Bag Compactor can fit within restrictive spaces with ease. A standard design unit takes up only 8’4” L x 3’5” W x 4’8” H (5’8” with door open). The motor and outlet tube can be oriented on either side of the machine and only a simple start/stop function is needed to operate the equipment. Our design office can also put the unit on casters for mobility around your entire production facility.

By compressing the used bulk bags neatly into a plastic sleeve, the operator can simply zip tie and cut the length of compressed bags as desired. The contained bags can be stored or transferred to a near-by recycling facility with ease.

Furthermore, are compactors are not just stand-alone unit, but can also be fully integrated into bulk bag unloading stations to automate the removal, compaction and disposal of used bulk bags.
 

Don’t waste another second of your time folding up dusty bulk bags and taking up too much valuable floor space. Call one of our sales engineers today to discuss our bulk bag compactor solution!