In honor of Earth Day and Arbor Day, we often hear stories and ideas of how we can minimize our impact on the environment. We have learned to reduce, reuse, and recycle, but this weekend I came across a story on CNN about reusing an item that we at Zepol talk about everyday – shipping containers.

Podponics is a company that recycles containers and uses them to create ideal growing environments for vegetables. They have developed a solution that turns a 40-foot container into the equivalent of one and a half acres of land to grow six varieties of lettuce. Unlike conventional farmland, a “pod” from Podponics can be placed almost anywhere, potentially changing the supply chain for urban restaurants and supermarkets.

Aside from importing and exporting, now we can add growing environments to the list of shipping container uses. In the past, I have seen photos of containers used in home and commercial construction projects, and obviously containers make perfect storage units. I wonder what they will come up with next!