Kraig Scattarella/The Oregonian
I stumbled across a rockin’ article in Oregon Live about tiny steel cargo containers…
With our country importing more goods than it exports, roughly 2 million empty shipping containers are sitting idle, he estimates. Luckily, the potential for reuse has not gone unnoticed. There is an international design movement to turn shipping containers into sturdy, stylish, grounded shelters.
Click here to read the full piece. It’s pretty cool peeps…
{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
Last summer, someone made a low-cost retail flea market out of shipping containers in Bushwick Brooklyn. This was a great idea, because most of the people there couldn’t afford a full storefront, so they could rent a shipping container for a lot less. Plus I’m sure it was inexpensive to build as well. They put glass doors and windows on the end of the container that faced the street.
I love this kind of thrifty-but-useful recycling.
In the Ukraine, at a restoration city where Germans from Russia were waiting to get their immigration papers together to move into Germany, there were many homes and shops made from the shipping containers.
@Christina and Everett – Thanks for leaving a comment. It’s awesome to see what people do with materials that are already here, versus buying new stuff.
I had no idea that a lot of these containers are only used 1 or 2 times and then sit in huge yards. It’s a terrible waste. I’m sure these old containers would be used for homeless shelters too.
@Everett I’ll have to look for photos of the flea market you mentioned. It sounds really cool.