Efficiently Store and Transport Bulk Ingredients with Food-grade IBC Totes
In the competitive world of food and beverage, efficient storage and transportation are essential. Finding the right containers can be a game changer, as they can significantly impact costs, logistics, and product quality. Let’s dive into how to choose the perfect solution.
Understanding Typical Bulk Bins: An Overview
Bulk bins, also known as IBC containers, are large, reusable containers used to store and transport both dry and liquid products in bulk quantities. These containers vary widely in materials, designs, and applications.
Corrugated boxes are commonly used for dry goods due to their lightweight structure, while steel or caged IBCs are frequently utilized for transporting bulk liquids, such as milk, oils, or sauces. Both types are designed to store and transport large quantities of goods.
Why Traditional Bulk Bins Aren’t Enough
While traditional bulk bins have served industries for years, they come with several limitations that can impact your overall supply chain efficiency:
1. Moisture Issues
Corrugated boxes, commonly used for dry goods, tend to absorb moisture. In humid environments, this weakens the structure, leading to potential product spoilage or contamination.
2. Hygiene Concerns
While steel and caged IBCs offer sturdiness, these bins present hygiene challenges due to their difficulty in cleaning, susceptibility to rust, and tendency to harbor bacteria or contaminants.
3. Space Inefficiency and Higher Transport Costs
Traditional bins, such as rigid caged IBCs and corrugated bins, are space-inefficient and need to stack better, leading to poor use of storage space and higher transportation costs. Their rigid design takes up valuable warehouse and truck space, driving up storage expenses.
Additionally, when empty, they require more truck trips, increasing fuel consumption, operational costs, and carbon emissions.
The Tosca Solution
Tosca’s food-grade IBC totes provide an advanced solution, overcoming many of the challenges associated with traditional bulk bins:
1. Hygienic and Safe
First, they are hygienic and safe, made from non-porous plastic that resists moisture and bacteria. Each bin undergoes cleaning and inspection after every use, meeting the highest food safety standards (ISO 22000). And because their handles and automation-friendly design reduce the risk of injury, they’re safer to use than traditional cardboard alternatives too.
2. Increased Throughput
Tosca bulk bins combine a robust design with a standardized footprint to prevent debris and machine jams, simplifying automation and boosting throughput.
3. Greater Efficiency
Tosca bulk bins are designed to be stacked twice as high as their traditional counterparts. This significantly increases the amount of storage space available per trip, maximizing efficiency.
4. Cost savings
More efficient stacking means lower costs. And that’s not all: because you can collapse Tosca bulk bins when they’re not in use, you can transport more per trip. This means you can reduce the number of journeys needed—saving you even more money.
5. Sustainable
From a sustainability perspective, Tosca bins contribute to zero landfill waste and generate 66% fewer CO₂ emissions than traditional bins, supporting greener supply chains. Plus, by pooling them with Tosca, you can reduce your supply chain’s impact on the environment even further.
Our Products
TOSCA GENERAL PURPOSE BIN
Tosca’s General Purpose Bulk Bin offers a range of benefits that enhance efficiency and sustainability in supply chains. It’s lightweight but exceptionally durable, offering superior protection for your goods during transportation.
We want to eliminate the need of single-use packaging and that’s why, our design and manufacturing team ensured that all bins can be reused repeatedly. The best part? At the end of their life, they can be 100% recycled.
The bin can also save you money on the return journey. Its collapsible design allows 182 folded empty bins to be transported per truck, compared to just 26 rigid bins. This significantly optimizes the space available and cuts labor costs by eliminating the need for breakdowns or trips to the baler.
TOSCA SUPERIOR HYBRID
On top of that, Tosca’s Superior Hybrid IBC sets a new benchmark for both dry and liquid bulk storage, delivering benefits that outshine traditional options. Available in 1000 and 500-liter variants, the Superior Hybrid is your ideal bulk bin solution for dry and liquid products.
Ease of use: The Superior Hybrid is designed for versatility, with five different sealable exit and entry points. You can fill the product aseptically from top to bottom with hardly any residue in the liner! Get all the product out without any trouble.
Less space usage: You don’t want a bin that you can’t stack high, or that takes a lot of floor space. Imagine a foldable and collapsible bulk bin that can be stacked twice as high and can transport a lot more.
Eliminate the need for pallet and tertiary packaging: Our Superior Hybrid comes with a built-in pallet. We reduce your dependency on wooden pallets — which aren’t automation-friendly and tend to break quite easily. What better way to save money and be sustainable? The steel-reinforced side panels also hold liquid and keep your product safe without the need for straps.
Better hygiene and food safety: The Superior Hybrid keeps your products safely protected from contaminants. The non-porous plastic container is resistant to moisture, insects, fungi, acids, fats, solvents and odor.
With our stringent hygiene and cleaning processes you get a product that protects your products, maximizes efficiency and reduces shrink costs.
When compared to competitors, Tosca’s bins outperform both corrugated and caged IBCs across the board. Our innovative design provides superior product safety, reduces overall costs, and enhances sustainability efforts, making it the ideal alternative.
They’re suited for a broad range of industries, including fresh produce, beverage and food ingredients, offering standardized, versatile solutions to meet diverse needs.
A prime example is Puratos, which benefited from Tosca’s solutions to enhance both sustainability and cost-effectiveness.Protect Your Products and the Planet
Incorporating reusable secondary packaging into your business strategy offers two obvious benefits: it helps protect your products from damage, ensuring they reach customers in pristine condition, and it supports environmental sustainability by reducing waste and your carbon footprint. This approach not only improves the bottom line through cost savings, but also demonstrates a commitment to sustainable practices.
Furthermore, reusable secondary packaging is emerging as the clear choice for businesses aiming to future-proof their supply chains through the integration of advanced technology, product innovation, and optimized supply chain processes.
Take the next step in optimizing your supply chain. Use Tosca’s savings calculator to see how much you could save with reusable secondary packaging, and explore our sustainability calculator to understand the environmental benefits. By making the switch, you can contribute to a better planet while enhancing your business efficiency.
The Superior Hybrid in Action
Here’s how Puratos has benefited from partnering with Tosca to enhance sustainability and operational efficiency.
Puratos is an international company that provides ingredients for bakeries and patisseries. They use Tosca’s Superior Hybrid IBC totes for liquids and Magnum Optimum containers for dry bulk products.
By partnering with Tosca, Puratos has significantly reduced food waste through innovations like the use of 1000-liter liners and specialized squeeze machines, ensuring that less than 0.3% of the product goes to waste.“Partnering with Tosca is the perfect way to achieve our sustainability goals. We worked with Tosca and our customers to convert our existing packaging to Tosca’s returnable containers. This has been a great success as we have a more sustainable solution and reduced our costs.” – Hélène Flamand, Sustainability Manager, Sourdough and Grains
Ensure Safe and Sustainable Transport
In conclusion, Tosca’s food-grade IBC totes are a comprehensive solution for businesses seeking to improve the efficiency, safety, and sustainability of their bulk storage and transport operations. Whether you’re handling dry or liquid products, Tosca’s reusable bins offer an unmatched combination of durability, space efficiency, and cost savings.
“For me, Tosca is Customer-centric, Solution-oriented, and Committed.” – Alexis Raspé, Group Purchasing Manager for Packaging, PuratosGet in touch today to start your partnership with Tosca.
