If you are British than you probably know what I’m talking about when I say the word “bin”. You know right off the bat that I’m referring to a trash can (which you would call rubbish). Therefore, by default, you would know that bin liners are the same thing as trash bags. Well, when I talk about bin liners in the industrial world I’m talking about bags that line bins in order to protect the product they hold. It’s a much larger scale.

That is the convenient thing about the English language. When you say “trash can” it can’t be confused with anything else. It doesn’t have to look like a trash can (some friends of mine use an old hamper, actually. It’s very retro). It might also be outright disguised. You might say, “Where is the trashcan” and whomever would show you, or direct you to it. If you were to say, “Where is the bin”, that leaves a lot of room open for interpretation. Bin for what? Bin for firewood. For sorting hardware. For separating toys. The word bin is far too general. “Trash can” is specific.

This way, when I start talking about bin liners at PackagingSupplies.com, you will know that I am not talking about trash bags (although they sell trash bags, too!). I’m talking about bin liners. Bins are giant boxes, and the bin liners are what go in them.

The other difference between bin liners and trash bags is that trash bags are two flat pieces of plastic sealed around the edges. A bin liner has a height, a depth, and a length. This is due to the gusseted sides. What is a gusseted side, you may ask? In this instance, a gusset is an extra piece of material sewn in to enlarge the item. For example, our clothes have gussets all in them.

Have you ever noticed that our pants aren’t just two pieces of cloth sewn together? Particularly in the crotch is that extra piece of material (the gusset) so that our butts can be accommodated. Otherwise we would all still be wearing dresses and skirts and wraps. And by all of us I mean all of us.

Since bin liners have to fit into large, square boxes they need gussets on the sides or they would be pointless. Thanks to the invention of gussets, we now have pants and bin liners.