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Cardboard boxes have been the focus of numerous innovations already featured on our virtual pages, including eBay’s initiative to reuse them. Continuing the eco-friendly, reusable theme, Boxsmart offers a central place for companies to buy and sell used and surplus boxes. For companies with boxes to get rid of, Arizona-based Boxsmart will sort and process each load by hand, carefully inspecting them and separating the good ones from the bad. Unusable ones get recycled, while Boxsmart resells the good ones. The companies unloading the boxes, meanwhile, earn 50 to 100 percent more from Boxsmart than traditional recycling efforts would bring in, it says, and without requiring the purchase of any new equipment. For companies in need of boxes, Boxsmart carries a huge inventory of deeply discounted obsolete and surplus boxes as well as used shipping and bulk boxes. With an inventory of more than 3 million boxes in more than 800 sizes, Boxsmart offers savings of between 25 and 50 percent over the prices of traditional stock or custom corrugated boxes, it says. While the traditional recycling model focuses on baling scrap corrugated for export to foreign markets for reprocessing, Boxsmart takes a greener approach with no reprocessing and no exporting. It also employs more than 500 physically and mentally challenged adults throughout the US. Currently, Boxsmart operates several US warehouses and serves the United States, Canada and Mexico. One to partner with or emulate in your area….? (Related: Boxes made of cardboard laden with seeds — Matching buyers and sellers of cardboard boxes.) Spotted by: Michael Sarlitt