It’s All in the Box

The “Company Profile” is an Earth911.com series highlighting consumer goods and services making a difference through product stewardship and recycling. Products and services featured do not pay for placement and are not endorsed by Earth911.com.

Who can forget the anticipation of preparing to move into their first dorm, apartment or home? The excitement is so tangible, you can almost taste the freedom of your new space.

But alas, the hype wears off and the logistics kick in. Just how are you going to get all your stuff from one place to another? Time to round up your friends for an eventful night of dumpster diving for boxes, right?

It doesn’t have to be that way, according to Marty Metro, founder and president of UsedCardboardBoxes.com (UCB). Gone are the days of searching through the trash at your favorite retailer or purchasing new boxes for your upcoming move.

Why waste your precious packing time looking for boxes, when UCB already has them for you? Earth911 talked to Metro to learn more.

What They Do

“We are a software and marketing company,” said Metro. In a nutshell, UCB buys used cardboard boxes from large entities such as manufacturers and distribution centers for a “higher price than typical recyclers,” and then sells them to the general public and other businesses for “less than the cost of new boxes.”

$120 billion worth of boxes are produced worldwide every year,” said Metro. He understands “the bigger picture, that our country has about $40 billion worth of this supply, and our mentality is to rip the box open and throw it away, rather than recycle or reuse it.”

According to Metro, what separates UCB from other used box companies is its national reach (they are the only used box provider with the ability to deliver to any address in the U.S.), free shipping to consumers and commercial scope. “The software is web-based that helps us create the marketplace and match supplies to demand,” said Metro. “On the consumer side, it’s basically an online store. On the business side, we act as a brokerage.”

How it Started

Metro started his career in enterprise technology, the systems that manage the inventory of large, prominent companies.

“One day, my wife and I were driving across the country. I saw a moving truck, and I asked, ‘where do all the boxes go when people unpack them?’ There’s a huge supply of boxes, a huge demand and nothing in the middle,” said Metro. That was when he decided to quit his job and build software that simultaneously allows companies to make “more money on their industrial waste and people to buy boxes for less than new.”

That was back in 2002, when Metro began his small shop by placing flyers around his neighborhood. Now, six years later, UCB operates out of eight distribution centers across the U.S. and two in Canada.

Favorite Aspect?

“There’s no rules. No one to tell us how to build our business,” said Metro. “We are writing the book as we go.”

Metro also added that UCB is “using technology to do something that just makes sense to everyone […], something very simple that anyone can relate to. My dad even understands what I do.” At UCB, “there’s no secret sauce, no ‘behind the curtain.’”

UCB is also excited about something that makes the company “a little different. We have a green, environmentally and socially responsible product that actually costs less than its less-green alternative.”

Future Plans

UCB has two major initiatives for the future:

1. Expand the business to other companies in related industries, such as moving companies, realtors, homebuilders and apartment complexes. UCB wants to be able to provide boxes locally to these partners, so they can provide eco-friendly boxes to their customers and clients.
2. On the commercial end of UCB, the company is about to release a new business-to-business software that will facilitate the transfer of boxes between companies and “create a common language for used boxes.” It’s a more efficient system for UCB to talk with its corporate customers regarding product inventory, enabling UCB to work with major companies that have a consistent amount of supply.

“By next year, we are hoping to have 20 hub systems to buy and sell boxes locally,” said Metro. The physical process of moving the boxes is also eco-friendly because they are using “existing boxes, trucks, employees, infrastructures and resources” from their partner companies.

Favorite “R”

Reuse, “simply because it makes so much sense.” Rather than tear your old boxes apart and put them in straight in the recycle bin, why not use them a few times, reducing the need for additional supply? “It just makes sense,” said Metro, “economical, financial, environmental sense.”

Get In on the Action

Check out UCB’s website to learn more about reused boxes and how they can help you in your next move or storage. Metro ensures your boxes will be “cheaper, greener, guaranteed.” They also provide a five percent discount to college students. You can also learn more about recycling cardboard with Earth911.