For Maxi Containers, growth is green

One of Metro Detroit's greenest companies is in one of the last places you would expect to find it.

Maxi Container is in an old industrial warehouse yard that looks every bit the part of the industrialized Midwest. The surrounding neighborhood on the eastern end of Caniff, near the border of Hamtramck and Detroit, only accentuates that perception.

But the family-owned firm makes sustainability a key part of not only its business plan but its overall ethos. The container distributor finds ways to repurpose containers into its product line and even turns some of them into rain barrels and composters. It recycles just about everything in its office and has a fleet that runs on bio-diesel. It even has a greenhouse gas calculator on its website.

"We have always been a green company," says Richard Rubin, president of Maxi Container. "All of our products are recyclable and many of them have been reused. We have been doing this for 100 years, starting with wooden barrels."

This ethos has allowed it to grow recently. The company now employs 18, including three new hires within the last two years. It expects to hire two more later this summer, including a web designer to manage its social media and marketing.

The Hamtramck-based company is also branching out of its usual industrial container products. It is turning some of those 55-gallon drums into rain barrels or composters, selling them at places like the Green Street Fair in Plymouth. In 2009 it sold more than 100 rain barrel kits and expects to sell even more this year.

"It has grown significantly as word gets out," Rubin says. "You look for areas where you can grow."

Source: Richard Rubin, president of Maxi Container
Writer: Jon Zemke

For Maxi Containers, growth is green

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