Plastic bulk containers in California

California is the largest state for food manufacturing, 166,660 jobs in 2025, and the largest for warehousing, 236,923 jobs or 12.46% of the US total. It is also the biggest farm state, and that is where most California bins go: macro bins and field bins for tree fruit, grapes, nuts and vegetables.

Beverage manufacturing is the industry most concentrated here, 63,604 jobs at 1.7 times the national share, and much of it is wine. Grape harvest bins have to hold juice, so they are solid-wall. Fruit and vegetable preserving adds 27,518 jobs, and USDA counted 400 million cubic feet of refrigerated warehouse space in the state in October 2025.

The Inland Empire, San Bernardino and Riverside counties, holds the most warehousing jobs, 118,368 between them. San Joaquin County around Stockton is third, at 28,518, on I-5. California also has 42,575 pharmaceutical jobs, the most of any state, and those plants ask for lidded bins with a resin statement.

Few states use more harvest bins. The Central Valley grows almonds, walnuts, pistachios, grapes, tomatoes, peaches and citrus; Salinas and the coast grow lettuce and strawberries; and the Imperial Valley grows winter vegetables. Each crop has its own season and its own preferred bin. Port of Los Angeles and Long Beach, the busiest container port complex in the US, feeds warehouses in the Inland Empire around Ontario and Fontana. Inland valley summers are hot and sunny, so bins left outside need UV-stabilised resin.

California buyers range from almond and walnut hullers wanting vented bins, grape growers wanting solid bins for crush, tomato processors wanting heavy bins, and Inland Empire warehouses wanting collapsibles.

Rice growers in the Sacramento Valley use bins for seed and milled rice.

Dairies in Tulare and Merced counties supply cheese plants that need washable bins; Watsonville berry coolers need shallow ones.