A banana box is a type of corrugated box for transportation of bananas. It often consists of a separate lower part and a telescoping lid. Carrying handles and vent holes allow banana respiration and permit access to processing gasses such as ethylene oxide for ripening. The hole in the bottom is usually covered with a thin sheet of paperboard or corrugated board so that the bananas do not fall out, and a layer of plastic is usually placed between the bananas and the box.
Until the 1950s, bananas were often shipped hanging from hooks in the cargo rooms of reefer ships, which could lead to the bananas being in a poor condition when they arrived at their destination. [1]
Since the fruit is sensitive to pressure, 1961 saw the introduction of boxes packed at the plantations and loaded on refrigerated ships. [2]
From the mid-1960s, refrigerated containers were increasingly used to transport banana boxes. [3]
A banana box usually holds about 18 kg of bananas. [4] The dimensions may vary slightly between different manufacturers, but are approximately 53.5 × 40 × 24.5 cm (width × depth × height), which corresponds to a volume of 52 liters (0.05 m3). Thus, 20 banana boxes will fill about one cubic meter. A single type 1AA ISO container can thus hold 1200 banana boxes. [5]
A disadvantage of banana boxes for transport purposes is that unlike euro containers, they cannot effectively fill a Euro pallet (1200 × 800 mm). Europallets can, for reference, also be stacked efficiently in a CEN container.
Banana boxes are popularly reused for storage or transport, for example as moving boxes, for archiving, used book markets, in storage areas or for humanitarian logistics. [6] An important reason for these uses is that banana boxes usually are affordable and easy to obtain, as they are often given away for free from many grocery stores [7] [8] [9] that otherwise would have to dispose of them. The boxes are relatively robust (for cardboard boxes), and their quasi-standardized shape makes them easy to stack. Some stores charge for banana boxes, and the profit may, for instance, go to charity. [10] [11] A disadvantage of using banana boxes for moving may be the size, and that the bottom may not be sufficiently durable. [12] [13] They can also start to smell due to juices that have settled from the bananas during transport.
There have been rumors that banana boxes may contain toxins that make them unsuitable for storing clothes and kitchen utensils. [14] In 2004, the Swedish National Food Administration tested banana boxes, but found no toxins. In 2012, the Swedish Society for Nature Conservation could not give a definite answer, but considered that the risk of high toxin concentrations in the boxes was unlikely. [15] [16] [17]
Some poisonous spiders of the genus Phoneutria (Brazilian wandering spiders) occasionally wind up in Europe unintentionally with banana boxes via cargo ship. [18] [19] [20] [21] [22] In 2018, the Swedish animal expert Jonas Wahlström stated that there were no very dangerous spiders in banana-producing countries. [23] [24] In the 2010s, however, deadly Brazilian spiders reportedly had been found in banana boxes in the UK and Germany. [25] [26]
Like with other paper-based products, [27] there may be a risk of gray silverfish and silverfish with banana boxes.[ citation needed ]
In 2018, the Netherlands sought to replace corrugated banana boxes with plastic boxes which could be reused. The motivation for this was that it was more environmentally friendly. [28]
In 2021, a new ventilated plastic banana box was launched by the company IFCO. [29] It has a footprint of 600 × 400 mm (the same footprint as one of the most common sizes of euro containers). Furthermore, it has a height of 211 mm when unfolded, and is foldable to a total height of only 28 mm for more efficient transportation or storage when empty. ICFO claims this new type of banana box can contribute to a more circular economy. [29]
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 boxes. The corrugated medium sheet and the linerboard(s) are made of kraft containerboard, a paperboard material usually over 0.25 millimetres (0.01 in) thick.
An intermodal container, often called a shipping container, or cargo container, is a large metal crate designed and built for intermodal freight transport, meaning these containers can be used across different modes of transport – such as from ships to trains to trucks – without unloading and reloading their cargo. Intermodal containers are primarily used to store and transport materials and products efficiently and securely in the global containerized intermodal freight transport system, but smaller numbers are in regional use as well. It is like a boxcar that does not have wheels. These containers are known under a number of names. Based on size alone, up to 95% of intermodal containers comply with ISO standards, and can officially be called ISO containers. Many other names are simply: container, freight container, sea or ocean container, container van or sea van, sea can or C can, or MILVAN, or SEAVAN. The also used term CONEX (Box) is a technically incorrect carry-over usage of the name of an important predecessor of the international ISO containers, namely the much smaller prior steel CONEX boxes used by the U.S. Army.
A box is a container with rigid sides used for the storage or transportation of its contents. Most boxes have flat, parallel, rectangular sides. Boxes can be very small or very large and can be used for a variety of purposes, from functional to decorative.
A reefer ship is a refrigerated cargo ship typically used to transport perishable cargo, which require temperature-controlled handling, such as fruits, meat, vegetables, dairy products, and similar items.
A pallet 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. Many pallets can handle a load of 1,000 kg (2,200 lb). While most pallets are wooden, pallets can also be made of plastic, metal, paper, and recycled materials.
A crate is a large shipping container, often made of wood, typically used to transport or store large, heavy items. Steel and aluminium crates are also used. Specialized crates were designed for specific products, and were often made to be reusable, such as the "bottle crates" for milk and soft drinks.
Cardboard boxes are industrially prefabricated boxes, primarily used for packaging goods and materials. Specialists in industry seldom use the term cardboard because it does not denote a specific material. The term cardboard may refer to a variety of heavy paper-like materials, including card stock, corrugated fiberboard, and paperboard. Cardboard boxes can be readily recycled.
Milk crates are square or rectangular interlocking boxes that are used to transport milk and other products from dairies to retail establishments.
A bulk box, also known as a bulk bin, skid box, pallet box, bin box, gaylord, or octabin, is a pallet-size box used for storage and shipping of bulk or packaged goods. Bulk boxes can be designed to hold many different types of items such as plastic pellets, watermelons, electronic components, and even liquids; some bulk boxes are stackable.
A shipping container is a container with strength suitable to withstand shipment, storage, and handling. Shipping containers range from large reusable steel boxes used for intermodal shipments to the ubiquitous corrugated boxes. In the context of international shipping trade, "container" or "shipping container" is virtually synonymous with "intermodal freight container", a container designed to be moved from one mode of transport to another without unloading and reloading.
Banana boat is a descriptive nickname that was given to fast ships, also called banana carriers, engaged in the banana trade. They were designed to transport easily spoiled bananas rapidly from tropical growing areas to North America and Europe. They often carried passengers as well as fruit.
Shelf-ready packaging (SRP) and retail-ready packaging (RRP) refers to the packaging of a product so that it is delivered to a retailer in packaging which is optimized for efficient stocking and sale.
IFCO trays are a type of reusable packaging for transporting fresh food produce. IFCO SYSTEMS is the name of the company that first developed a pooling service for reusable plastic trays for fresh produce in 1992, when the company was founded in Pullach, Germany. IFCO is the acronym for International Food Container Organization.
A Euro container, also called Eurobox, Euro crate or KLT box, is an industrial stacking container conforming to the VDA 4500 standard. The standard was originally defined by the German Association of the Automotive Industry (VDA) for the automotive industry, but was subsequently adopted across many other areas of manufacturing and the shipping industry. The most common sizes are 600 × 400 mm and 400 × 300 mm, which can be stacked together to fill a Euro-pallet measuring 1200 × 800 mm.
Reusable packaging is manufactured of durable materials and is specifically designed for multiple trips and extended life. A reusable package or container is "designed for reuse without impairment of its protective function." The term returnable is sometimes used interchangeably but it can also include returning packages or components for other than reuse: recycling, disposal, incineration, etc. Typically, the materials used to make returnable packaging include steel, wood, polypropylene sheets or other plastic materials.
Plastic containers are containers made exclusively or partially of plastic. Plastic containers are ubiquitous either as single-use or reuseable/durable plastic cups, plastic bottles, plastic bags, foam food containers, Tupperware, plastic tubes, clamshells, cosmetic containers, up to intermediate bulk containers and various types of containers made of corrugated plastic. The entire packaging industry heavily depends on plastic containers or containers with some plastic content, besides paperboard and other materials. Food storage nowadays relies mainly on plastic food storage containers.
Package handles, or carriers, are used to help people use packaging. They are designed to simplify and to improve the ergonomics of lifting and carrying packages. Handles on consumer packages add convenience and help facilitate use and pouring. The effect of handles on package material costs and the packaging line efficiencies are also critical. A handle can be defined as “an accessory attached to a container or part for the purpose of holding or carrying.” Sometimes a handle can be used to hang a package for dispensing or use.
Packaging waste, the part of the waste that consists of packaging and packaging material, is a major part of the total global waste, and the major part of the packaging waste consists of single-use plastic food packaging, a hallmark of throwaway culture. Notable examples for which the need for regulation was recognized early, are "containers of liquids for human consumption", i.e. plastic bottles and the like. In Europe, the Germans top the list of packaging waste producers with more than 220 kilos of packaging per capita.
Overpackaging is the use of excess packaging. The Institute of Packaging Professionals defines overpackaging as “a condition where the methods and materials used to package an item exceed the requirements for adequate containment, protection, transport, and sale”
Closed Loop Box Reuse, is the process by which boxes or other containers are reused many times. It is a form of reusable packaging.
