Recycled Shipping Containers: A Green Building Solution

There are hundreds of thousands (if not millions) of shipping containers worldwide. These massive metal crates have been used to haul everything from computers to cat toys, but there are significantly more crates than there are products that need to be shipped. While melting the crates down and turning them into other products (or even new shipping crates) has always been an option, a less expensive form of recycling has been to use shipping containers as building materials.

The Benefits of Reusing Shipping Containers

There are a wide variety of benefits that come with using recycled shipping containers as materials to build a green home, business, or office space. According to Container Architecture some of those benefits include:

– Low cost of materials
– High strength and durability
– Large living area
– Small footprint left on the land
– Quick construction

In short by recycling shipping containers into building materials, home and business owners can get a space that’s easy to put together, durable & eco-friendly. Also, it is less expensive than many other options when it comes to construction.

Shipping Container Homes in New Zealand

New Zealand is internationally famous for its beauty, so it makes sense that shipping container homes and designs would be adopted as a way to help preserve that beauty while still providing an attractive, spacious living area.

Perhaps one of the most recognizable examples of this housing is the Cliffside House, a four-story recycled shipping container home that’s built right into the rock. Roomy and attractive, the home has an undeniable appeal, and space-age look to it that other building materials and styles simply wouldn’t have been able to manage.

An example from the opposite end of the spectrum is the Port-A-Bach, a product of AtilierWorkshop. This single recycled shipping container unit can be taken on the road or left in the countryside, locked up tight until it’s time to go and relax away from it all. With a fold-out porch and all the amenities one could ask for, it’s an up-cycled home away from home.

A Global Trend

Reusing recycled shipping containers as buildings is becoming more and more common in the world. They provide answers to the problems of shipping container overpopulation, and at the same time, they provide a low-cost space that will last for a very, very long time.