As we progress further and further into the 21st Century, minimising our environmental footprint is becoming more and more important.
Whether you’re looking for the right onsite solution for a construction project or simply trying to find the most environmentally friendly way of going about adding storage facilities to an existing site, you may be tossing up between a relocatable site solution made out of a modified sea container vs permanent infrastructure.
Sea containers, as the name suggests, are commonly used by large ships to transport inventory, contents, equipment, and items across oceans. These (mostly) rectangular containers can also be repurposed and used in other contexts.
Modified sea containers are purpose-renovated and turned into relocatable site solutions that make for excellent offices, storage facilities, or control rooms. Due to the nature of the structure, they can be moved from site to site with ease. They are relatively easy to install, remove or re-home elsewhere. In other words, the opposite of permanent infrastructure.
Permanent buildings or constructions are designed not to be moved. From the types of material used in construction to the foundation work, plumbing and electrical systems built into the ground, a permanent infrastructure is infinitely less flexible than a relocatable site solution.
Let’s make something clear: permanent infrastructure is not necessarily bad for the environment. There are many ways in which buildings, roads, dams, and other works of man can be done in conscious ways to promote strong environmental behaviour.
Nonetheless, there are significant risks and badly executed infrastructure projects can be devastating for the local environment.
Our ecosystem is a delicate thing. Too often the building of permanent infrastructure requires significant modification or clearing of land, trees, and nature. The size and scope of the project in question is important in determining its impact, but nevertheless, without proper consideration, there is always a risk of devastating ecosystem damage.
As an offshoot to ecosystem damage, the loss of wildlife’s habitat cannot just be bad in and of itself but lead to an imbalance of the local natural environment. Without special consideration given to how and where new infrastructure is assembled and erected, species of all kinds can be driven out of their home causing dwindling numbers and in extreme cases even extinction.
Pollution is always a concern for those wishing to work in concert with the environment. Whether it’s air pollution or water contamination, the process of building permanent infrastructure comes with inevitable waste. There are better and worse ways, of course, with dealing with one’s waste, and while pollution can and should be minimised it is still a concern.
While carbon emissions may fall under local pollution as well, it’s important to categorise and consider it separately. Governments and businesses are marching steadfastly towards reducing carbon emissions in all aspects of their economic activity. Permanent infrastructure, in both its material manufacturing and building, causes more carbon emissions than modified sea containers, which of course is contributing to the overall effect of climate change.
Modified sea containers offer a viable solution to permanent infrastructure both economically and environmentally. If you’re serious about exploring ways in which you can achieve your environmental goals without having to compromise on the operational capacity of your business, you may want to consider what a converted shipping container can do for you.
Inherently, modified sea containers are recycled items that have been repurposed from their original use into something new. This sustainable model is a smart and efficient way of reducing waste and therefore environmental damage. Instead of manufacturing new material and engaging in new buildings, the simple and minimally polluting modification of a sea container is a far more sustainable solution.
Permanent infrastructure requires extensive modification of the land and surrounding environment. This can often cause quite a bit of damage. The process of deploying a relocatable site solution is far less invasive and damaging to a local environment. Little to no work to the natural area needs to be done and–depending on the application–there is often next to no long-term damage caused.
Modified sea containers can actually be further adapted to increase their sustainability and lower environmental impact. There is a range of accessories, such as solar kits, that can help to ensure the structure is self-sustaining and power-independent. Of course, permanent infrastructure also presents opportunities to customise and adapt it for increased sustainability, but often the cost and complexity of such work is prohibitive for an organisation. Turning a modified shipping container into an environmentally sustainable building is easier, quicker, and cheaper.
By its very nature, the using a relocatable site solution onsite as an office or storage facility is temporary. They are movable, removable, and flexible, unlike permanent infrastructure, there is no necessity for long-term damage to the local environment. The flexibility of the containers’ application means that the best decisions can be made in terms of placement and installation to reduce as much impact on the local environment as possible. There is far less scope for this sort of discretion when putting down permanent building foundations.
If you’d like to know more about anything and everything modified sea containers or if you’d like to discuss the environmental impacts of permanent infrastructure, reach out to the Tradesales team today.
We don’t just provide high quality workplace equipment and storage facilities; we provide practical solutions for businesses of all types. So, let’s find an environmentally conscious solution for your organisation today!