Bulk bags shipped to Georgia

Who fills bulk bags in Georgia

Kaolin between Augusta and Macon

A band of white kaolin clay runs along Georgia's Fall Line, through the counties between Augusta, Sandersville and Macon. It is mined, washed and processed into clay that coats and fills paper and goes into ceramics, paint, plastics and rubber. Much of it leaves as slurry in rail tank cars or dry in bulk; the specialty grades and smaller lots go in bags.

Kaolin is fine, light-colored and unforgiving of dirt. A grey streak from a scuffed or reused bag shows up in a white product, so processors order new bags. Expect coated fabric or a fitted liner, sift-proof seams, a spout top for a dust-tight fill and a spout bottom for controlled discharge.

Fine clay is also bulky for its weight, which matters on a truck. A bag sized to hold its SWL of a dense product may fill to the top with clay before it reaches that weight, so tell us the bulk density along with the target fill weight.

Sandersville, Gordon, McIntyre and Wrens sit on state highways between I-16 and I-20, so kaolin loads usually leave the interstate at Dublin, Milledgeville or Augusta for the last stretch.

Absorbent clay, granite and stone

Near the Florida line around Attapulgus, which gave the mineral its name, Georgia mines attapulgite and related absorbent clays. They end up in cat litter, floor absorbents, drilling fluids and agricultural carriers. Granular absorbent clay is dusty and abrasive, and it ships well in coated bags with a duffle top and a spout or flat bottom, depending on whether the buyer meters it or dumps it.

This is one of the Georgia loads where a used bag can work, if it was built 6:1, carried a compatible non-food product and passes inspection. If the clay is going into a pet or agricultural product with its own packaging rules, follow the buyer's spec instead.

Bainbridge and Thomasville are the nearest towns of size, and trucks reach that corner on US-84 west from Valdosta or US-27 north from Tallahassee.

In the northeast, Elberton is known for granite quarried for monuments and building stone, and crushed granite from Piedmont quarries feeds Atlanta's construction trade. Quarry fines and aggregate ride well in heavy coated four-loop bags, and in sound used multi-trip bags after inspection.

Poultry in the north, peanuts in the south

North Georgia around Gainesville is broiler country, with hatcheries, grow-out houses and feed mills in the foothills. Feed mills take premix, amino acids and other micro-ingredients in new coated, lined bags with a spout bottom that ties off over a mixer.

Southwest Georgia around Albany, Tifton, Dawson and Americus grows peanuts, cotton, corn and pecans. Peanuts are dug and windrowed in the fall, dried, then shelled through the winter. Shelled peanuts are a food and travel only in new food-grade bags made to the buyer's program; peanuts that sit in a damp bag invite mold, so dry storage matters as much as a clean bag.

Cotton and peanut planting seed, and the fertilizer that goes down with it, are the spring order. Seed dealers want new Type A bags, with a liner for treated seed.

• Shelled peanuts: new food-grade, spout top and bottom, liner if specified
• Poultry premix: new coated bag, PE liner, spout bottom
• Planting seed: new Type A, liner for treated lots
• Granular fertilizer: coated, duffle top, spout bottom with tie

Dalton, resin and recycled fiber

Dalton, in the northwest on I-75 between Atlanta and Chattanooga, is carpet country. Mills there spin and tuft fiber made from nylon, polyester and polypropylene, which means resin pellets in, fiber and scrap out.

Resin pellets flow freely and fill a bag fast. A duffle top and a spout bottom suit most pellet lines. Whether the line needs static protection depends on the resin, the conveying system and the room, which is a call for your site's hazardous-area assessment and the bag maker's documents, not a guess from us.

Recycled carpet fiber and post-industrial scrap are light and bulky. They fill a tall open-top or duffle-top bag by volume, and used bags often suit them after inspection, provided they were built for multi-trip service and the receiver accepts them.

Savannah, Brunswick and the roads in

The Port of Savannah is a major container gateway for the Southeast, with its main terminal upriver at Garden City. Brunswick, down the coast, handles vehicles and bulk cargo. Bagged export loads stuffed into containers near the port need bags sized to the box and to the gross weight the shipper works to.

I-75 runs the length of the state from Chattanooga through Atlanta, Macon and Tifton to Valdosta and Florida. I-95 follows the coast past Savannah and Brunswick. I-85 runs northeast from Atlanta toward the Carolinas and southwest toward Montgomery, I-20 crosses from Alabama through Atlanta to Augusta, and I-16 links Macon with Savannah, which puts kaolin country a straight run from the port.

Send the product, SWL, safety factor, top, bottom, liner and ZIP for a quote. We book empties pickups statewide; multi-trip bags in good shape can be bought back, and single-trip 5:1 bags go to recycling.