Life in a shipping container:

It may be the ultimate recycling project: taking retired shipping containers and repurposing them as buildings. SG Blocks thinks it can make the proposition into big business.

FORTUNE -- It may be the ultimate recycling project: taking retired shipping containers and repurposing them as buildings. It's not uncommon to see these makeshift structures informally in use around ports or construction sites, but now Paul Galvin is trying to bring them into the mainstream with his company SG Blocks.

It's a you-have-to-see-it-to-believe-it endeavor that's getting a boost from the confluence of two trends: a growing acceptance of prefabricated construction and the greening of the economy. "Everyone is going green in construction, as am I," says Peter Sudler, a real estate developer and investor in the company.

It doesn't hurt that Galvin, the company's founder and CEO, says his projects, depending on the location, are typically 10% to 12% cheaper than traditional construction, cut 40% off construction time and are more resistant to extreme weather like hurricanes. Each container weighs 8,000 pounds, is 40 feet long and can hold some 50,000 pounds. The containers can be stacked depending on a customer's needs, a quality Galvin says likens the finished project to a giant steel honeycomb.

Here's how it works: port operator Conglobal Industries sources the retired containers for SG Blocks (SGBX) and modifies them right at the ports, cutting in windows and doors. Galvin's operation then either coordinates the finish work at the job site or an interim location. Any exterior finish like brick or wood can be added, but Galvin says most clients want to highlight the fact that they're going green. "They'll leave it very rectangular and some of the container exposed," he adds. (See sample photos at right.)

That's not to say that Galvin expects us all to live in corrugated steel boxes. Howard Lorber, president and CEO of SG Blocks investor Vector Group, says that the initial reaction often is, "Wow, who wants to be in a house that looks like a container?" But he adds that people who see the structures often have no idea they were built out of material once used to ship cargo. At a recent trade show, Galvin had his crew cut a hole in the side of their model house to expose the structural system because no one realized it was made from containers.

While Galvin may have been the one to turn the concept into a business, he got the idea from a merchant mariner and Naval engineer who had built and permitted a container-based house in Charleston, SC, in the early 2000s. He immediately saw these containers as what he calls a "green building block" -- hence the name.

In July, SG Blocks announced its intention to merge with CDSI Holdings, a holding company primarily created for investments and acquisitions. The deal was finalized last week, which makes SG Blocks a public company. Its SEC filings show that SG Blocks generated $2.6 million in revenue for the six months ending June 30, but had a net loss of more than half a million dollars. The company said that was in large part due to the costs associated with an emerging operation going public.

Galvin, who had previously been running not-for-profit groups focusing on affordable and special needs housing, was the original seed investor. Rather than chase a lot of projects, he decided early on to focus on military contracts and work for large corporations to help build credibility.

His first client was the U.S. Army, which tapped him to build an administrative headquarters at Fort Bragg. SG Blocks recently finished up two large buildings made up of 32 containers at the Port of Houston, and a large office and training structure on the deck of a U.S. Navy nuclear aircraft carrier made up of 47 40-foot containers.

For the Jacksonville Port Authority, Director of Seaport Security and Emergency Preparedness Charles White says going with a container-based building for a new operations center was a natural fit. "We know how durable these things are," says White, noting that shipping companies even operate out of them informally at the port. He wanted something that could stand up to hurricanes and be built quickly. (SG Blocks can set a container every 20 minutes with a crane once it's modified.) Traditional construction would have forced him to cut back on the facility's electronic capabilities to come in at budget.

The company is starting to move beyond just military construction into mi-rise buildings, such as the 30,000 square foot rental building in New Jersey currently in contract. Mobile retail is also a growing focus. SG Blocks erected a PUMA store in Charleston, which was taken to the South Street Seaport for the World Cup, back to Charleston, and then to Minnesota for a youth soccer event. Galvin has also dipped into the high-end market. While shipping containers don't usually scream beach house, a few weeks ago SG Blocks delivered a residential house in Amagansett in the Hamptons.

                                        

Source: CNN Money. By Beth Kowitt. 10 November 2011

http://tech.fortune.cnn.com/2011/11/10/life-in-a-shipping-container/

New recycling center accepts practically everything:

SAN ANTONIO – We’ve had a recycling program for several years now, but there are a lot of things the recycling trucks won't take. What do you do with that old computer, television or foam packaging?

Now there’s a place that will recycle virtually everything, for free.

In a nondescript warehouse off I-35 near Splashtown, they've constructed a 100,000 square foot, one stop recycling center, where soon you'll be able to drop off things they won't take at the curb. Even styrofoam and electronics.

Inside they're still installing carpet, made from recycled plastic bottles. But the rest of the operation is up and running. A company called Logistix is already processing loads from local communities and trash haulers and will open to the public next month.

“We're looking to fill those niches that other recyclers think are either too difficult, or there’s not enough money to be made. We do it all,” says Logistix recycling director Zach Walter.

Walter gave us a tour of the plant and showed us a machine that recycles Styrofoam -- which is kind of like the kryptonite of recycling. Most processors won't touch it.

“We ship it to manufacturers that make picture frames and crown molding and other wood type products.” says Walter.

Local military bases are already sending classified documents here to be shredded and turned into tissue paper. Instead of slicing the pages into thin strips, their shredder grinds them to tiny bits, which is more secure.

Like other recyclers, Logistix takes in and sorts paper, cardboard, plastic containers of all kinds, including prescription medication bottles and metal.

They also have a shop where they disassemble and recycle just about anything that can be plugged in -- which will come as welcome news to anyone who has tried to recycle a TV or computer. Like Nancy Horne, who couldn't find anyone to take her 42-inch big screen.

“I thought, ‘How am I going to get rid of it?’ It sat in my living room for months because I couldn't get rid of it,” Horne told us.

Logistix says it will accept electronics, recyclables and paper for shredding from the public free of charge, and in some cases pay for it.

“We are going to have a drop off area that they will be able to come in and drop off their material,” says Walter.

Source: By Jaie Avila (JaieAvila@woaitv.com). 28 October 2011

http://www.woai.com/content/troubleshooters/story/New-recycling-center-accepts-practically/YkOm_O9Ye0SEuSrs7119cA.cspx

‘Dirty trade' challenges EU vision of recycling society:

While the EU seeks to curb its import dependency on raw materials through better re-use and recycling, the bloc remains a top exporter of all sorts of waste – including paper, plastics and metals.

Instead of being re-used in Europe, waste resources are increasingly being shipped overseas to fuel booming Asian economies, despite Brussels' push to promote waste as a valuable commodity.

Europe's rising waste export is not confined to illegal hazardous materials, which made headlines when it emerged that poor workers in India have been dismantling rubbish from batteries to used warships containing Asbestos.

Exports also relate to the legal shipments of non-hazardous wastes such as metals, paper and plastic. These do not need to be notified as they have an economic value and represent a useful source of secondary raw material for emerging economies.

According to a 2008 report by the European Environment Agency (EEA), the volume of these exports has increased significantly between 1995 and 2005, particularly to China and the Far East.

While China is the dominant player of the major Asian economies, India and Indonesia are also sourcing materials from the EU to fuel domestic industries.

In the EU-15, exports of waste paper alone increased from 1.2 to 7.8 million tonnes during that period – with exports to China rising from almost zero to 4.5 million tonnes.

For waste plastics, the rise was from 0.2 to 1.6 million tonnes, of which half was sent to China and Hong Kong. According to the EEA, the most significant type of waste plastic exported – over 1 million tonnes– is of parings and scrap plastic from polymers of ethylene.

The four main categories of waste metals being exported are iron and steel, copper, aluminium and nickel. But much more is being exported in the form of electronic waste such as mobile phones and laptops.

For waste iron and steel, exports went from 6.7 to 8.1 million tonnes and the export of waste copper, aluminium and nickel from the EU-25 was almost 1.6 million tonnes in 2005.

Drivers of waste export

Factors driving waste exports are numerous and the EU's environmental rules and standards are seen as an incentive as proper recycling at home can be expensive.

The bloc’s laws governing waste disposal require more recycling for all sorts of waste streams such as paper and plastic, and seek to prohibit dumping in landfills.  Incineration is also heavily taxed in most of Europe.

The cheapest option available may be to simply ship the waste away to countries where health and environmental standards for recycling as well as labour costs are significantly lower.

But it is not only about opting for cheaper treatment outside the EU.

Economic growth and the related increasing costs of virgin raw materials and fossil fuels have also created a higher price for secondary raw materials, increasing the international market for recovered metals, paper, glass, and special kinds of plastics (PET) of high quality, the EEA notes.

And in a number of countries imports of copper and other scrap metals, for example, are tax free.

An important factor for the EU waste exports to China is the rather low price of the transport: container ships filled with consumer goods from China  to European ports might well travel back empty if they are not transformed into a profitable return cargo filled with waste for reprocessing.

According to the EEA, a loaded 40-foot container can be shipped from the EU to Hong Kong for some €500, helping China and other Asian economies cost-effectively satisfy their demand for paper, plastic and other materials from the EU’s industrial and municipal waste streams.

As investigated by the UK newspaper, The Guardian, this trade is actually “starving some local recycling initiatives of materials and putting established firms out of business or at risk” in Europe. Whereas expanding national recycling industry would be good for the environment, create local jobs and boost green technologies.

Exporting energy through waste

Patrick de Schrynmakers, secretary general of the European Aluminium Association (EAA), argued that with its scrap exports Europe is also exporting cheap energy and helping China to decrease greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.

Aluminium scrap, for example, is a highly energy containing material, as 95% less energy is needed when it is recycled, compared to producing aluminium from virgin bauxite.

De Schrynmakers told EurActiv that compared to other commodities, there is no shortage of aluminium in China and they could easily produce all they need, but “their limitation is electricity, energy.”

“Energy is the key and that is precisely where they [Chinese] have problems,” de Schrynmakers said, adding that when coupling the lack of energy with China’s desire to produce less greenhouse gas emissions, “you can understand why they seek to buy all scrap available”.

He also deplored the fact that China is subsidising the use of scrap, with full VAT rebates for imported aluminium scrap. “Last year, China imported 3.7 million tons of scrap – pitifully enough – most of it from Europe,” he said.

And while the industry wants to increase its recycling rates in Europe to lower its environmental footprint, de Schrynmakers noted that “it would be particularly unpleasant to see that if we increase our collection rates, then the recycling goes and happens in China.”

He also noted that Europe used to be a net importer of aluminium scrap – importing, for example, almost all of Russia’s aluminium scrap until Russia put a 50% export duty on it - but is now a significant net exporter.

The industry would like to see quotas or export duties adopted for the export of EU scrap. De Schrynmakers criticised European authorities for merely saying: “We cannot do it because we need to show a good example. We cannot criticise others for doing something while we are doing it ourselves.”

Source: EurActiv. 11 October 2011

http://www.euractiv.com/specialreport-recycling-society/dirty-trade-challenges-eu-vision-recycling-society-news-508255