How a More Flexible Hazardous Waste Hauling Container Can Help Reduce Your Warehouse Footprint

A recent report found that more than 10% of all packages in North America arrive at a distribution center with some form of damage. Depending on the severity of the damage, these packages and the contents inside must be disposed of properly, and this means waste haulers need a large inventory of reliable containers to safely transport and store damaged — and often hazardous — materials. 

55-gallon steel drums are the common container waste haulers rely on for the transport and warehousing of hazmat solids. While there are several challenges associated with using steel drums for hazmat waste hauling, perhaps the most fundamental hurdle is the lack of flexibility steel drums provide. Not only are steel drums time-consuming to transport, they are also difficult to efficiently palletize and store. 

This is where a more flexible hazardous waste hauling container can help companies streamline their containment and transportation processes. Here, we’ll look at a couple of key ways how a flexible, versatile alternative to 55-gallon steel drums can help waste haulers optimize their container storage processes by reducing their warehouse footprint. 

A flexible hazardous waste hauling container means more units per pallet

There’s nothing flexible about 55-gallon steel drums. They take up a ton of square footage in your warehouse, and you can only fit so many units on a pallet. Plus, the sheer weight and cylindrical shape of steel drums makes them difficult to palletize and transport — for example, waste haulers can only fit four standard 55-gallon steel drums per pallet, and this means using literally thousands of pallets to warehouse the right amount of containers to meet demand. 

With a more flexible steel drum alternative, waste haulers can not only reduce the amount of time and resources necessary to efficiently load and unload trucks, but they can also fit more units on a standard pallet to help conserve warehouse space and operating costs. 

For example, Gorilla Drum™ utilizes a corrugated, polypropylene frame that is fully collapsible to help you fit 80 units per pallet. This flexible frame design helps reduce the amount of warehouse space necessary to store unfilled units, and the lightweight engineering also makes it faster and easier to transport units around your facility.

Closely associated with maximizing the use of warehouse space is making the most of your hazmat transportation processes, particularly when it comes to accommodating more hazmat containers per 53-foot truck. Gorilla Drum™’s flexible engineering makes it possible to fit 4,160 collapsed units on a standard truck, a 20x increase compared to traditional steel drums. 

A more flexible waste hauling solution reduces the need for transportation resources and equipment

With traditional steel drums, waste haulers need to utilize a variety of transportation resources and equipment to load, unload, and move hazmat waste. These pieces of equipment can be costly to source and maintain, and storing them can also take up precious space in a warehouse or distribution center. 

Plus, the weight of traditional steel drums adds a whole other layer of complexity in terms of the necessary personnel to move and inventory drums, and the cumbersome nature of steel drums increases the risk of workplace accidents. 

Gorilla Drum™ uses a corrugated plastic frame that is lightweight — each unfilled Gorilla Drum™ unit weighs just 7.5 lbs — and is completely foldable. Not only does this require less space to store unfilled units, it streamlines and simplifies the process of moving unfilled drums from Point A to Point B.  

Gorilla Drum™’s ergonomic engineering also makes it fast, easy, and safe to load and unload units, regardless of whether they contain hazardous or non-hazardous materials. 

Whereas traditional 55-gallon steel drums require special equipment or palletizing in order to load or unload, Gorilla Drum™ uses innovative, durable lifting loops, dolly band, and belly band that are compatible with a standard forklift and two-wheel dolly. Plus, these mobility features reduce the number of warehouse personnel required to transport filled units throughout a given facility. 

In addition, a zipper-top lid provides a tight seal and superior protection for the hazardous materials inside the unit to reduce the likelihood of workplace accidents or spillage in the event the unit is dropped. What’s more, each Gorilla Drum™ unit can be unfolded and expanded in just six simple steps without the need for specialized tooling and equipment. 

As the industry’s leading steel drum alternative, Gorilla Drum™ can help waste haulers reduce their warehouse footprint and increase productivity to help grow their customer base. Our innovative design and engineering reduces the waste in waste hauling and provides a more flexible, versatile containment solution. 

Learn more about how Gorilla Drum™ stacks up against the competition.