In the technical sense treated here, dunnage is inexpensive or waste material used to load and secure cargo during transportation; more loosely, it refers to miscellaneous baggage, brought along during travel. The term can also refer to low-priority cargo used to fill out transport capacity which would otherwise ship underweight.In construction, dunnage is often scrap wood or disposable manufactured material whose purpose is to be placed on the ground to raise construction materials to allow access for forklifts and slings for hoisting, and to protect them from the elements.