Are shipping container houses more sustainable than traditional homes?

Advocates for shipping container homes applaud them for giving unwanted containers a new life. According to most estimates, there are millions of unused shipping containers in the world. It’s often cheaper to receive new shipping containers than it is to send them back to suppliers, which means that some containers are discarded after only one trip.

Reusing a safe shipping container is an excellent example of building with recycled materials, and shipping container homes can also encourage a smaller footprint and less usage of other building materials like wood and masonry. Owners who are open to alternative living spaces like container homes often incorporate other eco-friendly elements, such as solar panels, wind power, water recycling systems, and rainwater harvesting systems.

Still, some used containers are hardly eco-friendly—they may have held toxic chemicals or have been treated to prevent corrosion during transit, leading to high levels of chemical residue. Picking the right container is key.

Others argue that the energy required to make the steel boxes habitable erases the benefits of recycling. According to an ArchDaily report, the average container eventually produces nearly a thousand pounds of hazardous waste before it can be used as a structure.