GM and MUFI Think Inside the Box for Urban Farming Project

Urban agriculture is growing fast across the U.S. A new collaboration is adding an exciting element of recycling to the concept. It’s happening in Detroit, where General Motors’ local Hamtramck Assembly plant is working with the city’s nonprofit Michigan Urban Farming Initiative (MUFI) to help build an occupied shipping container homestead.

The 40-feet long, eight-feet wide and 10-feet tall container home will be constructed of 85 percent scrap materials donated by General Motors. Employees will donate their time and skills to help build it.

The materials GM is donating come from several of its assemblies and include items such as Chevrolet Volt battery cases, which will be repurposed into bird houses and plant boxes. Metal parts bins will become planter boxes, wood pallets and other scrap wood will be used to build furniture, lockers will have a second lease of life as planter boxes and tool storage, and so several other types of materials will be transformed.

Image Credit: GM

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Antonio Pasolini, Corporate Social Responsibility writer for Justmeans, is a journalist based in Brazil who writes about alternative energy, green living and sustainability. He edits Energyrefuge.com, a top web destination for news and comment on renewable energy, and contributes articles on emerging technology to Gizmag. He is also a happy herbivore.