1-ton bulk bags, 2,000 lb SWL

What 1 ton means on a bag label

In the US a ton is a short ton, 2,000 lb, and a 1-ton bulk bag is one whose label reads SWL 2,000 lb. The SWL is the most the bag is made to carry in use, on every fill. The safety factor printed beside it says how far past that the design was tested: 5:1 for single trip, 6:1 for multi trip. People also call these 2000 lb bulk bags, super sacks, jumbo bags or ton totes; the label is what defines them.

The arithmetic is 2,000 x 5 = 10,000 lb for a 5:1 bag and 2,000 x 6 = 12,000 lb for a 6:1 bag. Those are destructive type-test loads on sample bags of the design, not an allowance to overfill. A 2,000 lb bag is filled to 2,000 lb and stopped. A 5:1 bag makes one trip and goes to a recycler; a 6:1 bag can make more trips inside a managed loop, with an inspection before each fill.

In kilograms, 2,000 / 2.20462 = 907 kg. A metric tonne is 1,000 kg, which is 2,204.6 lb, and bags rated at 1,000 kg are usually labelled 2,200 lb. So a 2,000 lb bag and a 1,000 kg bag are not the same rating: the metric one carries 204.6 lb more. If your spec came from overseas or says 1,000 kg, order the 2,200 lb rating instead.

Label markings on metric-rated bags often show both units, kilograms first. Where only kilograms appear, convert with 2.20462 and keep the decimals to the last step; rounding early is how a 1,000 kg spec turns into a 2,000 lb order, and a bag 204.6 lb under-rated for its fill.

Who fills 1-ton bags, and with what

A ton is a handy unit for selling and blending, so a great deal of dry bulk moves at this rating: fertilizer blenders and farm retailers, sugar and food ingredient plants, mineral and chemical powder shippers, seed plants, resin compounders and plastics recyclers. A 2,000 lb bag is one forklift lift, one scale reading and one line on a bill of lading.

Customers who reorder the same bag do well to write its spec down once: dimensions, SWL, safety factor, fabric weight and coating, top and bottom, liner, static type, loop style and length, document pouch, and bags per bale. With that sheet on file, a repeat order comes down to a ZIP code, a quantity and the day the line needs them.

The list below works each product through our assumed densities to the volume a ton needs and a bag that holds it.

• Granular fertilizer: 33.3 cubic feet per ton at an assumed 60 lb per cubic foot, so a 35 x 35 x 50; the 35 x 35 x 45 at 31.9 stops at about 1,914 lb
• Granulated sugar: 40.0 cubic feet at 50 lb, a 35 x 35 x 60 or a baffled 37 x 37 x 52, in new food-grade bags with a liner
• Seed corn: 44.4 cubic feet at 45 lb; a 39 x 39 x 50 at 44.0 fills to about 1,980 lb, and a 41 x 41 x 48 at 46.7 reaches the ton
• Wheat flour: 55.6 cubic feet at 36 lb, a 41 x 41 x 60
• Plastic resin pellets: 58.8 cubic feet at 34 lb; a 41 x 41 x 60 at 58.4 is just short of a ton at box volume
• Cement, gravel or sand: 20.0 to 22.2 cubic feet at 90 to 100 lb, a 35 x 35 x 35 at 24.8

Sizing a ton by density

Divide 2,000 lb by the product's bulk density to get the volume it needs, then pick a bag whose box volume is a little bigger, because filled bags round out and never hold their full box. At our assumed densities: pellets at 34 lb per cubic foot need 58.8 cubic feet, flour at 36 lb 55.6, seed corn at 45 lb 44.4, sugar at 50 lb 40.0, fertilizer at 60 lb 33.3, cement at 90 lb 22.2, gravel at 95 lb 21.1 and sand at 100 lb 20.0.

The spread is almost three to one. A ton of pellets wants 58.8 cubic feet and a ton of sand wants 20.0, which is why there is no single 1-ton bag size. The 35 x 35 x 50, at 35.4 cubic feet, makes a ton of anything at 56.5 lb per cubic foot or denser. Lighter products need a taller or wider bag, and dense products leave a 50 in bag part empty. Your product's data sheet gives the real density; ours are assumptions for the sum.

Tops and bottoms follow the line, not the rating. A spout top closes around a filling head and keeps dust in; a duffle top opens wide for a chute or loader. A spout bottom lets the discharger meter product out; a flat bottom is cut open or tipped. Static type follows the product and your site's hazardous-area assessment: Type C only works when it is grounded, and Type A has no static protection at all.

Food and pharma fills go in new bags made for food contact. Once-used bags are only for non-food loads such as sand, gravel and some feed and mineral work, after inspection.

Lifting, inspection and the truck

A full 1-ton bag lifts by all its loops: forklift tines through every loop, or every loop on one crane hook or a lifting bar, with the loops standing vertical. Tines should have smooth edges and be long enough to carry the loops on both sides. Never lift by fewer loops than the bag was built for, never drag it, and keep everyone out from under a hanging bag.

Before each use, look the bag over for cuts, pulled seams, frayed loops and fabric gone soft or chalky from sunlight. Manufacturer handling guidance (2023) says bags left in prolonged sun should not be lifted and should not be repaired by the user. The same guidance holds multi-trip standard-duty bags to 6 x SWL in the final destruction test and to a 4,000 kg, 6-hour compression test.

On the road, payload decides. An assumed 53 ft dry van with 44,000 lb of payload carries 44,000 / 2,000 = 22 one-ton bags. A 35 in bag gives 36 floor spots, two across and 18 rows, so 22 bags fill 11 rows and the carrier spreads them for axle weights. Empty 1-ton bags ship folded in bales on pallets: a couple of pallets ride LTL, and a whole trailer of bales spreads the freight over more bags if the warehouse can hold them.