corporate social responsibility – Shanghai Metal Corporation

The Many Architectural Applications of Shipping Containers vol.7

Shipping containers are a perfect solution for setting up a pop-up restaurant or a mobile kiosk. As we already covered in our blog about container stores, they can be installed almost everywhere and are very likely to gather a lot of crowd. Some very well know companies have already set up a mobile restaurants and kiosks.

In 2010 Subway had a shipping container restaurant on top of the five story Freedom Tower in New York. Subway established the restaurant for the construction workers who would otherwise have needed 45 minutes to get down from the construction.

Shipping containers are also a form of sustainable building and offer an eco-friendly and a low-cost solution for starting restaurants. One of the world’s best coffee shops, Starbucks, has also used shipping containers and build such an eco-friendly drive-thru cafe in Seattle.

As a new business idea, shipping container restaurants are an ideal low-cost choice. During these hard times in the economy, people who have always wanted to start their own restaurants but do not have enough capital, seem to have found a solution.

Setting a container kiosk is a smaller scale but still a considerable business. Container kiosks are also used to implement CSR in developed countries. For instance Coca-Cola has taken this concept to Africa, Asia and Latin America by installing kiosks called Ekocenters that offer locally tailored mix of products, services and resources that also include sustainable energy, wireless communications, refrigerated vaccination storage, health education, and other functionality to jump-start entrepreneurship opportunities and community development.

If you are looking for containers to start or expand your business, we in Shanghai Metal Corporation can offer them. We have many kinds of containers with different door solutions. You can check our website for further details or send us a message through this form. Check also our social media platforms for new updates.

Tuomas P. // SMC Editor

Pictures and original articles: Coca-Cola Company, Coca-Cola Company Press Release, Food and Beverage News, Designboom, 3BL Media, Expok News, Inthrald, Weburbanist, Urban Times,Inhabitat, Inhabitat, Westphoria

Continue to chapter 8.

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The Many Architectural Applications of Shipping Containers vol.5

Our fifth chapter on shipping containers’ architectural applications will discuss examples of how and why they are an excellent choice for creating affordable and sustainable schools and student homes. It might be that even this generation of students will get familiar at least one of them.

Using shipping containers as temporal school houses has at least two rationales. The first reason is that especially old wooden school buildings are likely to have mold issues that may cause severe health risks. For example an article of a Finnish science magazine Tiede states that every second school in Finland has mold issues (source). Students are therefore either forced to stay in their mold school or move to another school. Container schools could be installed in relatively short time and with relatively low costs.

The second reason can be studied from Samsung. In 2012, the South Korean electronics chaebol established a shipping container school in the South African village of Phomolong as a part of its corporate-social responsibility program. The school offers its 21 students premium education facilities with solar powered electricity system and notebooks, an Internet connection and Samsung Galaxy tablets. (source)

The lack of affordable student homes creates another application for shipping containers. For instance in Finland there is a high demand for student homes as the number of available apartments in student villages is getting lower. Students are now forced to pay a very high monthly rent. Some students have to pay even over 800 euros of monthly rent. According to a survey conducted by the Finnish periodical Iltalehti, 40 percent of the thousand respondents said that their funds are really low due to expensive rents. They are now designing economical student homes, made of containers.

Harri Nordling, a Finnish container home designer, has designed beautiful container student homes. The container homes can also be expanded to multi-storeyed blocks of flats. This sort of solution has already been applied in Sweden. Container homes are easy to build. They are also low-cost and environmentally friendly.

So many deficits in housing can nowadays be solved with shipping containers. Therefore we offer a large variety of shipping containers in Shanghai Metal Corporation. We also offer prefabricated container building solutions. Please visit our web pages for detailed descriptions. Check also our social media sites.

Tuomas P. // SMC Editor

Pictures and original articles: Tiede magazine, Cnet, The Volt Report,Arch Daily, Wintech Modular Buildings, Lion Containers, Design Boom, Iltalehti.fi, Hansacontainers.com

Continue to chapter 6.

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Bill Gates’s Shipping Containers Turn POOP into Energy!

Bill Gates, the founder of Microsoft literally threw millions of dollars into toilet as he together with his wife invested $42 million in a competition of designing toilet systems for developing countries. In the competition Duke’s Pratt School of Engineering presented a creative solution that uses shipping containers to sanitize human waste.

The university was offered a $1.18 million grant of its idea of turning human waste into energy. The sanitation solution that starts with the individual and the toilet, includes the storage, transportation and treatment of human waste, and ends, ideally, with safe, usable by products such as fertilizer, fuel or clean water.

As the diagram above shows, human waste goes to an underground shipping container. This 20-foot shipping container uses enough heat and pressure to drive the internal water into so called ‘supercritical phase‘. Supercritical water can oxidize the waste and produce a sterile combination of water, carbon dioxide and salts. It also produces a lot of heat that can be directed back to the system or, say, to a power generator.

The World Health Organization has stated that there 2.4 billion people that do not have access to any type of improved sanitation facility. In addition, about two million people die every year of diarrheal diseases; most of them being children under five years of age. Just like container hospitals and Coca-Cola’s container kiosks, the new container toilet system is a new example of how shipping containers can save lives!

Shipping containers are an excellent tool for conducting CSR campaigns in developing countries. As the examples of Coca-Cola, Samsung and now Bill Gates go to show, shipping containers are worth more than their steel structure. It is the value that comes from the creative minds utilizing containers that makes a difference. We in Shanghai Metal Corporation are really proud of offering these instruments. Please see more information about our shipping containers in our website or just send us an inquiry. Don’t forget to follow us on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and Instagram.

Tuomas P. // SMC Editor

Pictures and original articles: Top 10 rate, The World Health Organization, Duke University, Inhabitat, Treehugger

Afghanistan’s Future Is Built on Skateboards and Containers

As we’ve already covered in our blogs, shipping containers can be used to build high-end homes, hotels, villas, restaurants you name it. Due to their low prices, shipping containers are especially good for low income areas. They have even built a shipping container skate park in Afganistan.

The mega shipping container skate park will be built by an international NGO Skateistan that uses skateboarding as a tool for youth outreach in both Afghanistan and Cambodia. The most recent skate park in Mazar-e-Sharif is an educational safe have for children.The 6000 square meter educational and sport complex was built out of repurposed shipping containers and other locally sourced materials to host 1,000 local children on a weekly basis.

Afghanistan’s skate park is not actually one of its kind in developing container-based education in developing countries. For example Apple‘s rival the Korean electronics chaebol Samsung has also used shipping containers to build schools in South Africa. In Indonesia they have even build shipping container libraries.

It is yet unfold whether the skate park grows the future’s Tony Hawks or even enhances Afganistan’s economy but for the well-being and sophistication of local children the shipping container skate park is in a big role.

Shipping containers are a superior tool for businesses to actualize their corporate social responsibility programs as well as to spread culture and a high level of sophistication to developing countries. In general, we do not have many tools for helping the ones in need but shipping containers are a practical solution.

If you are planning to use shipping containers, please contact us in Shanghai Metal Corporation. We ship standardized shipping containers worldwide and compile prefabricated container buildings for customers needs. For detailed specifications, please visit our website. Please also follow us on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and Instagram.

Tuomas P. // SMC Editor

Pictures and original articles: Inhabitat, Skateistan

Coca Cola Saves Lives with Shipping Containers!

One of the world’s most valuable brands Coca-Cola is utilizing shipping containers in its corporate social responsibility program in developing countries within the bottom-of-the-pyramid (BoP) category. Together with Deka R&D and other major investors including UPS and IBM, the beverage company is installing container kiosks that will provide drinkable water for three billion people in the world that suffer from the lack of it.

These Ekocenters are to provide purified water for communities that have a limited access to safe drinking water. The modularly designed kiosk is made out of a 20 ft shipping container. The container is empowered with Slingshot technology that is responsible for the purification of water.

The kiosk is also meant to generate entrepreneurship in developing countries, especially among women. Along with these kiosks Coca-Cola has also launched their 5by20 program that aims to generate 5 million women entrepreneurs by the year 2020.

As discussed in our previous article about container shops, setting a container kiosk is a considerable business also in developed countries. Coca-Cola has redeveloped the concept and is now using the Ekocenters for offering locally tailored mix of products, services and resources that also include sustainable energy, wireless communications, refrigerated vaccination storage, health education, and other functionality to jump-start entrepreneurship opportunities and community development.

This CSR project begun in 2013 as Coca-Cola set up its first Ekocenter in South Africa. The company aims to install 1,500 to 2,000 Ekocenters by 2015 in Africa, Asia and the Latin and North America.

As shipping containers gain more ways of use, we in Shanghai Metal Corporation are also becoming happier in offering our international customers high-quality standardized shipping containers. For details about our large variety of products, please visit our website or just send us an inquiry and our English speaking staff will contact you. Meanwhile please remember to follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook and Instagram.

#BuildingValueAcrossTheGlobe

Tuomas P. // SMC Editor

Pictures and original articles: Coca-Cola Company, Coca-Cola Company Press Release, Food and Beverage News, Designboom, 3BL Media, Expok News

Shipping Container Hospitals – The Future of Saving Lives

Shipping containers can be transformed into mobile hospitals just like they can be transformed into offices, homes, hotels, theaters, nightclubs, shelters, stores or swimming pools. Because of their modularity and availability, shipping container hospitals can become true life savers in the future.

Container hospitals have been already set up all over the world. For instance, container clinics were needed when a magnitude 7.0 earthquake hit Haiti in 2010 and a large part of the Grace Children’s hospital in the capital Port-au-Prince was demolished. Help was offered by a Massachusetts based company Containers2Clinic that send their 8 X 20 feet container to the island to compensate the great infrastructural loss of the local hospital. (source)

The first shipping container clinics were invented by Michael Wawrzewski who designed the concept of Clinics in a Can in 2005. Wawrzewski was also nominated as the AAPA‘s 2005 Physician Assistant of the year for his work in developing quality, cost-effective and accessible health-care. His first clinic was assembled in Kansas and shipped to Haiti on July 2005. (source)

An example of combining health care and great design is shown by an Indonesian firm DPavilion Architects has utilized the country’s rich resource base of shipping containers and built The Contertainer, a shipping container health clinic and a library in the island of Jawa. The shipping container complex is meant to provide better quality of life for those who have little money.

Shipping containers are built according to international ISO standards and designed to be stacked and piled up in a container ship. They have also made from durable steel in order enhance their use time and to be able to handle rough weather. As the example of The Contertainer shows, even the exterior design of the mobile clinics is not limited the original appearance of containers.

Container hospitals are the future of health care. For people in areas of low income and weak availability of health care services, setting up a pop-up clinic can be a life saver. Even in urban areas or peripheries patients do not necessarily have to be transported long distances in an ambulance because these pop-up hospitals can be placed almost anywhere. For nonprofits such as Unicef or Red Cross this solution is a must. Investing in setting up a container clinic to underdeveloped areas is a great way for businesses to show their corporate social responsibility.

Shipping containers can be purchased from Shanghai Metal Corporation. We have a large variety of shipping containers and we are also specialized shipping container prefabricated construction projects. For any details please visit our website. Please also follow us on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and Instagram.

Tuomas P. // SMC Editor

Pictures and original articles: Marine Insight, Inhabitat, Popular Mechanics, Hospitals of Hope, Inhabitat, Get Simple Box, Container Living, Clinic in a Can

The WaterLess Jeans

It is no news that most US garment production has moved offshore to countries such as China, India, Bangladesh to take advantage of low production costs. And along with that decision rise questions of whether or not vendors and factories involved in the manufacturing processes comply with ethical, environment and social standards that create the “true” sustainable products.

Moving offshore does not imply fewer challenges for the apparel companies, but more intricate responsibilities to ensure that “making profits” can be done without compromising the quality of life of those involved in the process, as well as the future of the environment. In order to address these social challenges, the American Denim giant, Levi Strauss, launched its Water<Less jeans collection in 2011 – designed to reduce the water used in the finishing process by an average of 28 percent and up to 96 percent – and its 100% recycled water standard, a first for the apparel industry.

If the new Water<Less jeans can really save water? Well, Levi’s announced during the World Water Day on March 22 this year that the line has saved over 770 million liters of water — enough to supply drinking water for 811,000 people for one year — since its launch. The company also planned to make extra 9 million units of the Water<Less jean, saving 71 million liters of water, according to Environmental Leader.

During the full product cycle of Levi’s single pair of typical 501 jeans more than 3,000 liters of water are used. Almost half of it (49 percent) is used to grow the cotton, while 45 percent is used when customers wash their jeans, typically about 100 times. The remaining 6 percent of the water is used during the manufacturing process of the jean, which required an average of 3 to 10 spins in cavernous washers and dryers to give it its unique appearance.

Now, the new Water<Less jeans combines the multiple wash cycles into a single wet-cycle process, followed by the ozone processing (dry or raw denim). When the ozone decomposes, it reverts to free oxygen, not requiring washing the pair of jeans after the dyeing process. That was exactly where Levi’s could exert the most control of the usage on water and energy: the manufacturing process.

To celebrate the denim brand’s Water<Less jeans over 100 pairs of the jeans were fixed together forming a fluid whirlpool design. The art piece was inspired and designed by British architect Ian McChesney as part of the Regent Street Windows Project in London and used more than 1,000 copper rivets.

Shanghai Metal Corporation offers a wide range of copper rivets in varying sizes and forms, widely used in the manufacturing of art sculptures such as the Water<Less jeans in London. To find out more about us, please visit our Website, WordPress, LinkedIn , Twitter , Facebook and Instagram. Or you could try our new mobile app by scanning our QR code. Moreover, we sell directly from Alibaba , EC21 and Tradekey.

#BuildingValueAcrossTheGlobe

Source and pictures: sustainablebrands.com, greentechcorp.net, fibre2fashion.com, fashionsustainability.weebly.com, theguardian.com, hmvm.co.uk, celsias.com, greenglobaltravel.com

Camilla G.//SMC Editor

Cheers To The Naked Greener Coke Can!

Imagine a time when we recycle all aluminum cans in the world. Now imagine a time when all aluminum cans are “greener” than they claim to be. That is what the Ryan Harc design studio had in mind when a Coca-Cola can was re-created without toxic paint that tends to sink into the metal.

Being a leader in the soft drink industry and having the US as the largest market, followed by Mexico and China, the Coca-Cola Company owns the most innovative marketing campaigns worldwide. We saw the latest marketing campaign launched in China, Coke Lyric bottle, and Chok, the so-claimed best marketing campaign in over 35 years released last year in Hong Kong, reaching the top of the local app downloads for iOS in a single day, 380,000 downloads in one month, and over 9 million total views for the television commercial.

Although seen as an innovative player in the marketing space the Coca-Cola Company has yet a lot to catch up on the sustainability side. It is true that the aluminum cans are 100% recyclable, but it does not mean that the cans are as green as they could be. The current design favoring flashy colors uses toxic ink that tends to seep into the metal. What the consumers don’t realize is that the memorable experiences promoted by the marketing efforts tag along the risks for their own health and the environment that surrounds them.

In an endeavor to address such an issue, the NY-based Design studio Ryan Harc created a colorless can design that will reduce the cost of recycling and pollution. At least elegant, the minimalist touch given to the Coke can uses a pressing machine to insert a convex logo as an alternative to the colorfully toxic sprayed can.

The gains in environment benefits when skipping painting are huge if looked from the right perspective. Based on Alcoa statistics for aluminum can recycling, over 112 billion aluminum beverage cans are sold per year in the USA alone. But before aluminum cans can be recycled, the coating that goes on the cans to make them more beautiful and appealing on the shelves must first be produced, which in other words means CO2 emission by thermal or chemical burn-off. According to a report examining the potential coatings market opportunity for soy-based products estimates that 33 million gallons of coatings are sold per year in the US (2007 data).

Although only present in the design studio, the colorless pressed cans could also become a real product along with last summer’s Coca-Cola’s refreshing Ice Bottle packaging. Introduced in Cartagena, Colombia, consumers were seen enjoying a bottle of Coke direct out of ice instead of plastic or glass bottles; very practical, innovative and eco-friendly Coke packaging as the Ice Bottle melts away right after use.

Shanghai Metal Corporation offers a wide range of aluminum sheet (aluminum plate) widely used in the manufacturing of Coke aluminum cans. To find out more about us, please visit our Website, WordPress, LinkedIn , Twitter , Facebook and Instagram. Or you could try our new mobile app by scanning our QR code. Moreover, we sell directly from Alibaba , EC21 and Tradekey.

#BuildingValueAcrossTheGlobe

Sources: gamification.co, trendhunter.com, psfk.com, treehugger.com

Pictures: bevreview.com, greenerpackage.com

Camilla G.//SMC Editor

Better Education Obtained in Container Schools

Today shipping containers are used to build apartments, hotels, stores and saunas to name but a few. But why does it make sense to build schools out of containers?

The first reason is that especially old wooden school buildings are likely to have mold issues that may cause severe health risks. For example an article of a Finnish science magazine Tiede states that every second school in Finland has mold issues (source). Students are therefore either forced to stay in their mold school or move to another school. Container schools could be installed in relatively short time and with relatively low costs.

In Orange County California, creative architects had an over three months projects of expanding the Waldorf School in Costa Mesa by using shipping containers. It took 99 days to build four buildings out of 32 shipping containers. The eco-friendly construction project cost two million US dollars which was estimated of being 10-20 percent cheaper than an “old-school” building project. Also it would have most likely taken more time than 99 days to finish by using other material than shipping containers.

There are many types of internationally standardized shipping containers. Some have an open top and some can be opened from the sides. Thereby it gives designers limitless opportunities to develop mobile education facilities. In order to solve mold related problems or take education to less developed areas, governments, nonprofit organizations and companies’ CSR managers should look for containerized education solutions.

Shanghai Metal Corporation is a proud provider of shipping containers. Our wide variety of container products can be seen in our website http://www.smccontainer.com. We hope that you also follow us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn. You can also try our new mobile application by scanning the QR code below.

Tuomas P. // SMC Editor

Pictures and original articles: Tiede magazine, Cnet, The Volt Report, Arch Daily, Wintech Modular Buildings, Lion Containers, Design Boom