In Business, Creating Sustainable Enterprises & Communities

REUSE ENTERPRISE TRUMPS RECYCLING

In Business, January-February, Vol. 29, No. 1, p. 17

Rescuing quality used, new overrun and misprinted cardboard boxes from manufacturers, distributors and retailers allow firm to reach the right markets.

Neil Seldman

Better economics and environmental advantages are more the result of recovering working parts than by recycling the materials that make up the parts. That lesson is being proven by a Los Angeles-based company called UsedCardboardBoxes.com. Founder Marty Metro - a former .com executive - was forced to look for new pastures after the industry bust. He conceived and executed the formidable business plan that may make his company the recognized leader in the used cardboard box industry. What started as a neighborhood-scale pilot is now being rolled out across the country.
Quality control and customer service are keys to the business, which rescues quality used, new overrun and misprinted boxes from manufacturers, distributors and retailers. The combination of better prices for comparable quality and environmental consciousness are allowing Metro to realize his business and environmental goals, in both retail and wholesale markets.
The company provides a web-based service for households and businesses to search inventory and order the boxes they need. By matching supply with demand using specific kits designed for small and large users, the co pany is growing rapidly and will soon have distribution centers in Seattle, Denver, Chicago, Philadelphia and New Orleans to complement its initial Los Angeles facility. Their moving kits include tape, markers, and packing material as well as used boxes. A moving kit for a studio apartment costs $39; one for a 5-bedroom house costs $284. Shipping is always free. This allows the company to meet the demands of a household as well as a corporation that needs a truckload of 3,000 boxes.
“By modularizing our product and service, we are an earth-friendly company that costs less than traditional box companies. Plus, our customers know they are helping the environment,” says Metro. More and more companies like Guess Jeans, American Apparel and FAO Schwartz are catching on. By working with UsedCardboardBoxes.com, these companies become greener, immediately. “Reuse is environmentally superior both to massive disposal of cardboard, or recycling cardboard to Asian economies,” he explains.

OVERCOMING INVESTMENT LACK
Frustrated by the lack of public investment in reuse enterprises which traditionally funds recycling operations, Metro personally financed four years of pilot efforts, first in Silver Spring, MD, and then in Los Angeles. Quality boxes were collected, sorted and sold to new customers. The concept proved itself while operating with rented U-Haul trucks to deliver the boxes and pick them up after they were not needed. Through word of mouth and limited advertising, people immediately took to the opportunity to use earth-friendly used boxes over new boxes.
UsedCardboardBoxes.com emerged from these early efforts with another round of financing provided by Funk Ventures, a venture capital company that focuses exclusively on “companies with a purpose.” The company now has its sights set on the national scale with warehouses in strategically located cities. The sophisticated infrastructure developed by the company surpasses that of the traditional used cardboard box industry that is wedded to phone transactions and box brokers. Customers do not have to bid on products like on eBay. Rather they search the inventory online and order the boxes they need.
“We simply do what our customers want,” states Metro. In addition to saving customers time and money and providing a sense of environmental well being, the company donates a portion of its profits to Los Angeles-based Treepeople.org, an organization that plants and nurtures trees.
UsedCardboardBoxes.com envisions expanded markets in both retail and wholesale applications. The company is targeting manufacturers, distributors, and retailers, as well as realtors, apartment managers, and households. Currently the company can serve 42 million households in the west with its facilities. With an additional round of financing planned for 2007, the company will be in position to provide its popular, cost-effective and environmentally superior products and services throughout the country.
UsedCardboardBoxes.com is a perfect example of how it is getting easier and easier in our economy to succeed in business while promoting environmental responsibility on the part of citizens and corporations.

Neil Seldman is co-founder and President of the Institute for Local Self-Reliance, Washington, DC. (www.ilsr.org).