Resources / Glossary
Plain English For Everything On A Quote.
The 25 terms we use most. Most quoting confusion in this industry traces back to one of these being misunderstood. Bookmark it.
Gaylord
A large heavy-duty corrugated box sized to a pallet footprint, used for industrial bulk shipping.
Octabin / Octagonal
An 8-sided gaylord. Resists bowing under shifting loads; ~11% more volume per footprint.
Triple wall
A box built with three flutes between two liners. Strongest standard construction.
Double wall
Two flutes between three liners. The default for general-purpose gaylords.
Single wall
One flute, two liners. Light-duty; uncommon for gaylords.
Flute
The wavy paper layer between two liners. The structural element of corrugated.
Liner (corrugated)
The outer paper layer of a corrugated panel. Don't confuse with the polymer/foil liner inside the box.
Liner (poly / FDA / foil)
The flexible inner bag that holds product. Material varies: LDPE, FDA-grade, foil-barrier, anti-static.
Kraft
The wood pulp used to make corrugated paper. Virgin kraft = new fiber. Recycled kraft = reclaimed.
ECT
Edge Crush Test — sidewall stack strength, in lbs per linear inch.
Mullen burst
Puncture-resistance rating, in lbs. Older spec but still widely quoted.
OCC
Old Corrugated Containers — the recycling industry's term for used cardboard ready to recycle.
Grade (A/B/C)
Our condition rating. A = as-new; B = good reusable; C = functional with cosmetic flaws.
GMA pallet
Standard 48×40 Grocery Manufacturers Association pallet. The most common North American footprint.
Block pallet
Pallet with corner and middle blocks instead of stringers; 4-way forklift entry.
Stringer pallet
Pallet built on parallel boards (stringers); 2-way forklift entry.
ISPM-15
International phytosanitary standard for heat-treated wood packaging. Required for international shipping.
LTL
Less-than-truckload. Shared freight; cheaper than dedicated but slower with more handling.
TL
Full truckload. Dedicated trailer. Fastest, least handling.
Backhaul
When a truck picks up cargo on the return leg of a delivery — reduces empty miles.
Closed loop
A program where the same packaging cycles between known origin and destination repeatedly.
BOL
Bill of Lading. The shipping document detailing cargo, origin, destination, and carrier.
Diversion rate
The percentage of inbound material that leaves a facility reused or recycled rather than landfilled.
FSC / SFI
Forest stewardship certifications for chain-of-custody on paper products.
WARM model
EPA's Waste Reduction Model — used for calculating embodied and avoided carbon.
A-flute
The largest corrugated flute (about 1/4"). Used in heavy-duty and triple-wall construction. Maximum cushioning.
B-flute
Medium flute (about 1/8"). Strong vertical compression; common in retail and shipping cartons.
C-flute
Most common flute (about 3/16"). The general-purpose workhorse for shipping cartons.
E-flute
Fine flute (about 1/16"). Used for high-quality printed cartons; thin but strong.
BC-flute
Combination of B-flute and C-flute (double wall). Standard gaylord construction.
ABC-flute
Triple-wall combination of A, B, and C flutes. Heaviest standard construction.
Box compression test (BCT)
Total load a box can carry before structural failure. Different from ECT (sidewall only).
TAPPI
Technical Association of the Pulp and Paper Industry. Sets the testing standards we cite (TAPPI T811, T810, etc.).
TAPPI T811
The standard ECT test method. When someone quotes an ECT number, it should be a T811-derived figure.
TAPPI T810
The standard Mullen burst test method.
Edge crush variant (ECV)
Newer metric replacing some uses of ECT; not commonly quoted yet but gaining adoption.
Container test code (CTC)
Industry shorthand for combined ECT + burst spec. Sometimes printed on the box stamp.
GSM
Grams per square meter — paper weight unit. Common spec language for kraft.
Kraft liner
The outermost paper layer of a corrugated panel. Don't confuse with poly liner (inside the box).
Medium
The middle paper layer (the flute itself), between the two liner layers.
Refurbishing
The process of restoring used boxes to a sellable grade — flap straightening, liner replacement, corner reinforcement.
Reconditioning
Synonym for refurbishing, used more commonly in pallet contexts.
MR (mill-direct relationship)
Buying directly from the paper mill instead of through a converter. We have four MR relationships.
Mill-broke
Defective output from a mill that's recycled. Sometimes available as discounted feedstock if chain-of-custody is intact.
NACS
National Association of Container Suppliers. Industry body for box manufacturers.
FBA (Fibre Box Association)
Industry body for corrugated converters and recyclers.
Diversion
Material kept out of landfill via reuse or recycling. The number we publish annually.
Source separation
Sorting recyclables at the point of generation rather than at the MRF. Yields cleaner streams.
Co-mingled
Mixed recyclables in a single stream; needs MRF sorting.
Contamination
Non-recyclable material in a recycling stream. Mills charge back on contaminated bales.
End-of-life
When a product can no longer be reused at its intended function. Triggers recycling or disposal.
Cradle-to-cradle
Design philosophy where end-of-life material becomes new product input. Closed-loop is one implementation.
Scope 1 / 2 / 3
GHG Protocol emission scopes. Scope 1 = direct, Scope 2 = energy, Scope 3 = value chain (including packaging).
LCA
Life Cycle Assessment. Methodology for calculating environmental impact across a product's full life.
EPR
Extended Producer Responsibility. Laws requiring producers to fund end-of-life management of their packaging. Active in 6+ US states.
EPD
Environmental Product Declaration. Third-party-verified document of a product's environmental impact.
FSC mix
FSC-certified products containing a mix of FSC and controlled-wood fiber. The most common FSC chain-of-custody type.
SFI fiber sourcing
Sustainable Forestry Initiative's standard for responsible fiber sourcing.
RIM
Recycled Industrial Material — broad term for OCC and similar industrial recycled feedstocks.
Box plant
A corrugated converter that makes finished boxes from sheet stock or roll stock.
Sheet plant
Smaller converter; buys corrugated sheets and converts to boxes.
Drop test
A standardized test where a box is dropped from a set height to measure handling resilience.
Vibration test
Tests box performance under transport vibration. ISTA series 1A, 3E etc.
ISTA
International Safe Transit Association. Sets the standardized testing protocols for transit performance.
Octabin
Industry term for octagonal gaylord, particularly common in polymer industry.
IBC
Intermediate Bulk Container. A category including gaylord boxes and rigid plastic totes.
Tote
Rigid plastic IBC. Competitor product to gaylords in some applications; we don't sell them.
Banding
Steel or polypropylene strap used to bundle pallets together for transit. We sell tools and consumables.
Stretch wrap
Polyethylene film for unitizing pallet loads. Standard outbound prep at our yard.
Slip sheet
A thin sheet (kraft or plastic) used as a pallet substitute. Reduces shipping weight and dimension.
Edge protector
V-board or L-board placed at pallet corners to prevent strap and stretch-wrap damage.
Dunnage
Material placed in voids during shipping to immobilize cargo. Air bags, kraft paper, or scrap corrugated.
Yardage
Industry shorthand for the volume of recycled OCC handled at a facility (in tons per quarter).
Density
Pounds per cubic yard of a bale. Higher density = better freight economics.
Quality grade (paper)
How clean an OCC stream is — affects mill purchase price. ISRI grades from #6 to #12.
Repulper
The equipment at a paper mill that breaks down OCC bales into fiber slurry.
Closed-loop participation rate
Percentage of issued boxes that return on a closed-loop program. The number that decides if a program is economic.
BOL field
A line item on a bill of lading. We maintain per-customer translation tables for BOL formatting.
MSA
Master Service Agreement. The contract template that governs a recurring vendor relationship.
SOW
Statement of Work. The specific scope under an MSA.
Net-30 / Net-60
Payment terms. Net-30 means full payment due 30 days after invoice date.