This spring’s winner at eBay’s Innovation Expo was an idea called “simple green shipping” – a durable cardboard box designed to be used repeatedly by eBay buyers and sellers. At today’s eBay: On Location event that idea came to life, with 100,000 boxes printed and a pilot program announced in earnest.

The company believes that the idea will be beneficial to all of their customers, as many of eBay’s customers are both buyers and sellers, therefore needing shipping containers regularly. The new box will allow buyers to reuse the containers to ship items they sell, reducing the environmental footprint of their activities.

To spur adoption, the company has included spaces on the containers to write personal messages to the next person who may receive the package, and also created a virtual community where buyers and sellers can connect online and track the history of specific boxes. The packages also contain some marketing messaging on the inside: "Now that you've gotten what you wanted, sell what you don't and make some extra cash.”

All of the boxes (the pilot will include 3 different sizes) are made from 100% recycled content, Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certified cardboard and are 100% recyclable.

The eBay Green Team calculates that if every box is reused at least 5 times, they will have saved the equivalent paper of 4,000 trees, saved 2.4 million gallons of water and conserved enough energy to power 49 homes for a full year.

Reprinted with permission from Sustainable Life Media