Vertical and Horizontal Cardboard Balers

It comes down to three things: how much cardboard you go through, what it costs you now, and the space you have.

• Start with how much cardboard you go through. A baler earns its place when cardboard is a steady daily part of what you throw out.
• Then look at what it costs you now. If cardboard is what fills your container, the saving shows up as pickups you stop paying for.
• Then the space. A baler needs floor room and somewhere to stack the finished bales until they are collected.

A baler starts to pay when you make enough bales to fill a truckload, which is 20 tons. An average bale runs 1,000 to 1,200 pounds, so that is roughly 35 to 40 bales. Below that, a separate cardboard container is usually the better answer. Tell us how much cardboard you go through. We will tell you which side of that line you are on. Sometimes the answer is that you do not need a baler at all.

A vertical baler is loaded by hand and suits almost every commercial site. A horizontal baler is usually fed by a conveyor and suits factories with nonstop volume.

• Vertical. The press comes down from the top. Staff load cardboard through a front door, and the machine fits in a back room. It takes cardboard, shrink wrap, plastic film and aluminum cans, for retail, warehouse and distribution sites.
• Horizontal. The press pushes sideways, so material can feed in through a whole shift. It takes cardboard, paper, plastic and aluminum, up to 25 tons an hour depending on the material and model. Some models tie the bales automatically. It takes considerably more floor space, so you mostly see them in major factories and plants.

If you are not sure which fits, tell us how much cardboard you go through and the room you have.

Once you are making truckload quantities, baled cardboard becomes something you can sell. Below that, the saving comes from fewer pickups instead.

What a bale is worth moves with the commodity market. Old corrugated peaked near $180 a ton in 2017 and 2021. In September 2026 it was closer to $85 a ton. A broker pays roughly $30 to $40 a ton under the index, depending on your volume. Bales are stacked off your dock into a trailer until there is a full load. Some sites stage them for collection by flatbed instead.

Both. We sell balers outright if you would rather own the machine, and we can arrange one as part of a managed waste and recycling account so it sits on a single bill. Which costs less depends on how long you will be in the building and how much cardboard you produce.

It depends how you got it. On a rental, service is included. On a lease it is usually included, often for a set number of years. On a purchase it is normally covered for the first twelve months, and after that you pay for the call and the parts.

Either way you call us, and we line up the service with the people who maintain that machine.

Yes, on the vertical balers we place. They run on 208, 230 or 480 volt three-phase.

Tell us what is at the site before anything is ordered. If there is no three-phase, a cardboard container on its own route is usually the better answer than paying for the power.

A vertical baler is roughly 7 to 8 ft wide and about 3 ft 6 in to 3 ft 10 in deep, and it stands 8 ft 6 in to 11 ft 7 in tall, so check the ceiling as well as the floor.

The number people miss is the door. With it open you need 8 to 9 ft of clear depth in front of the machine. You also need somewhere to stack finished bales until they are collected, and a pallet jack path out to the dock.