Creative Ideas for Used Open Top Shipping Containers

Open top shipping containers are similar to standard containers, with the exception that that are topless, sort of. In normal uses, open tops come with hard or soft tops, and are used to transport large or heavy things. Rather than go into the dimensions and conventional uses (you can read about those in the article "Open Top Containers: Design and Use"), let’s think about some ideas for "nontraditional" or secondary market uses.

First off, what’s the point? A container with no top surely isn’t wind/water tight and isn’t that the point of putting things in a container? For storage, you’d be correct; but open top containers are fairly inexpensive and can be found at many locations around the United States. Once you start to think about other applications ideas become really cost effective.

Alternate Uses for Open Top Shipping Containers Dust Collection Bin: Many saw mills, wood working plants, and similar dust creating companies produce a lot of dust and use industrial dust collection equipment that sucks up all of the saw dust and moves it to a central location, many times a dumpster. From there it’s either transported to another location for disposal, or some other company finds a creative use for the by product. An inexpensive open top with a decent tarp over it could be used for collection, protected from the rain, and when it’s time to empty the dust the doors can be opened and it can be shoveled out.

Industrial Strength Dumpster: Wood scraps, paper trash and other burnable items are typically tossed into a regular dumpster and picked up weekly to be taken to the recycling plant or land fill. If the items are completely burnable an open top dumpster is a great unit to replace the conventional dumpster. Leave the top partially uncovered, and on a regular basis it can be opened up and set on fire, with no damage to the container (just remember to open the tarp). Given the top opening doors of a regular dumpster are usually plastic, a fire could cause problems. Especially if the dumpster is on loan from a trash collection company!

Shipping Container Swimming Pool: We’ve heard of a few places doing this, with one of the coolest ones in Denver - converting an open top shipping container into a swimming pool. On the upside, it will be less expensive than a normal pool; the downside could be that you’d need to come up with some ideas to work with the depth, otherwise the entire container will be around 8’ deep. Follow the link to read about "how to build a shipping container pool".

ContainerAuction.com is an online marketplace for new and used shipping containers of all sizes. The companies selling on the site are experienced professionals and can help you find the right shipping container for a modular housing project, portable storage, or shipping domestically or over-seas.