Shipping containers are used in almost every industry in the United States, and they can contribute to a considerable amount of waste on our planet. In fact, nearly seven hundred shipping containers are lost at sea in just one year and thousands upon thousands end up in landfills. But shipping containers are necessary for the transport of goods around the world – we really can’t do without them. There are more than fifteen million currently around the world, but only around six million of these shipping containers are in active circulation and use.

Fortunately, however, shipping containers and storage containers can be recycled into new things, such as shipping container homes. A shipping container house is ideal for a number of reasons. First, of course, is that it saves shipping containers from ending up in a landfill and contributing to the waste accumulation all over the world. A shipping container home is also incredibly easy to build, as it does not need to be built upon a foundation. In a factory setting, shipping containers can easily be made into a home structure in as little as two weeks. The shipping container home is doubly environmentally friendly because it does not need to utilize many of the traditional building materials such as brick and mortar and instead repurposes the steel used to originally construct the shipping container itself. This means that the average home made out of shipping containers is considerably less expensive than your average home, which is often hugely expensive to build as well as labor intensive, taking as long as six months before completion – and in some cases, even longer. Shipping container building also have considerable longevity, lasting for as long as if not longer than twenty years with very minimal upkeep and maintenance.

Aside from shipping containers homes, shipping containers can be repurposed and built into a number of other structures. Office buildings, for instance, can easily be made from shipping containers. The used shipping containers used to build an office space or building can help to lower the cost of rent for the building, allowing the companies that rent it to better allocate that money, perhaps even into higher employee salaries.

Shipping container waste represents a considerable problem all across the world. We need shipping containers – there’s no denying it. After all, with the rapid transport of goods all over the world, we would not be able to manage it without the use of shipping containers. However, when a shipping container is retired it typically ends up in a landfill. And even more shipping containers wind up lost at sea. Even more troubling, there are more than triple the amount of shipping containers available than the number of those that are actually in circulation. This means that the vast majority of shipping containers sit around and take up space and nothing more. If you’re wondering what can be done about this excessive waste, ask yourself what can you make with storage containers, what can you build with storage containers, etc. Storage containers can be utilized for a number of purposes, from residential community homes to office buildings. In the case of residential homes, shipping containers provide a low cost, easy to assemble building material, thus lowering the overall price of the shipping container homes. Because of this lowered price, home ownership and the prospect of a permanent dwelling becomes a possibility for many of the people who would not otherwise be able to afford a home. It brings accessible housing on to the market while simultaneously cutting down on the overall waste that is contributed to our earth, making shipping container homes the ideal way to reuse shipping containers.