Glossary

B

Bin liner: A plastic sack used to line a waste container. Sized by EN 13592 as usable width and usable length in millimetres, not by the litre rating of the bin.
Block pallet: A pallet supported on nine blocks, accessible by fork from all four sides. The euro pallet is a block pallet.
Blown film: Stretch film extruded as a bubble and cooled in air. Hazy, loud off the roll, and far more resistant to tearing once punctured.

Cast film: Stretch film extruded onto a chilled roller. Clear, quiet off the roll, cheaper, and easier to run at high pre-stretch.
Cling: The property that makes stretch film stick to itself. Available one-sided, so wrapped pallets do not stick to each other in transit.
Consolidated load: One shipment carrying several product categories on one order, one invoice and one delivery.
Containment force: How hard wrapped film squeezes a load, measured in kilograms of pull. The property that actually keeps a pallet together.
Core: The cardboard tube a roll of film or sacks is wound on. Typically 0.5 to 1 kg.
Curtainsider: The standard European road trailer, 13.6 m long, taking 33 euro pallets on the floor.

DAP: Delivered At Place. The seller delivers to your address, carrying the freight risk the whole way. You handle import duty and clearance.
Declaration of Conformity: The signed document by which whoever places packaging on the EU market declares that it conforms, backed by technical documentation.
Dunnage: Loose timber or board used to secure a load inside a vehicle or container.
Duty class: Trade shorthand for the thickness band of a refuse sack — light, medium, heavy, extra heavy, rubble grade.

Empty space ratio: The proportion of a pack that is not product. Limited for grouped, transport and e-commerce packaging under PPWR from 2030.
EPAL: The licensed 1200 × 800 mm European pallet, and the association that licenses it. Built to UIC 435-2.
EPR: Extended producer responsibility: whoever places packaging on a national market pays for collecting and recycling it.
EXW: Ex Works. The price covers the goods at the seller's premises and nothing else — you arrange collection, export, freight and import.

FCA: Free Carrier. The seller loads the goods onto your nominated carrier and clears them for export; you carry the freight from there.

Gauge: One hundredth of a thousandth of an inch — exactly 0.254 microns. The sack trade rounds it to four gauge per micron, which runs 1.6% light.
Gusset: A fold in the side of a sack or tube that lets it open square rather than flat.

HDPE: High-density polyethylene. Roughly twice the tensile strength of LDPE per micron and much weaker against puncture.

Incoterms: The standard trade terms defining who arranges and pays for transport, insurance and customs at each stage.
ISPM 15: The international phytosanitary standard for wood packaging in international trade. Heat treatment to 56 °C for 30 minutes, and a mark.

Lay-flat width: The width of a sack or tube as it lies flat. A tube of lay-flat width P opens into a circumference of 2P.
LDPE: Low-density polyethylene. Stretches before it tears and resists puncture, which is why it is used for anything wet, sharp or heavy.
LLDPE: Linear low-density polyethylene. Tougher than LDPE for the same thickness, and the base polymer of almost all stretch film.

Micron: One thousandth of a millimetre. The unit polyethylene thickness should be quoted in, because it is unambiguous.
Mil: One thousandth of an inch — 25.4 microns, or 100 gauge. Used on North American specifications.
MOQ: Minimum order quantity. The smallest quantity a supplier will produce or ship for a given specification.

Pallet overhang: Cases extending beyond the edge of the pallet, losing the support of the deck below them.
Pinwheel pattern: A pallet layer in which some cases are turned ninety degrees so that a strip which would otherwise be wasted gets filled.
Post-consumer recyclate: Polymer recovered from material that has already been used and discarded by a consumer, as distinct from factory offcuts.
PPWR: Regulation (EU) 2025/40, applying since 12 August 2026. Replaces the packaging directive with a regulation that applies directly in every member state.
Pre-stretch: Elongating stretch film between geared rollers before it reaches the pallet. At 250%, one metre off the roll covers three and a half metres of load.

Racking load: The load a pallet carries supported only at its ends, in beam racking. About 1000 kg on an EPAL pallet.

Safe working load: The load a pallet carries in normal handling and transit. About 1500 kg on an EPAL pallet.
Star seal: A sack base sealed in a cross, with no corners. Spreads the load evenly and does not leak.
Static load: The load a pallet carries on a flat, fully supported floor. Around 3,000 to 4,000 kg on an EPAL pallet.

1100 litre container: The largest wheeled waste container in common commercial use, roughly 1330 × 1030 mm at the opening.