What is the most amount of unused space in your business? Is it empty office space? Is it an employee or group of employees who are not working on something purposeful? Is it a great idea that is simply not being given due time and attention?

At Amazon, it was unused server and warehouse space. In March 2006, TechCrunch helped announce Amazon’s release of a web service called S3. S3 took unused space on Amazon’s dedicated servers (that they use to manage their web stores + data) and sold them to companies and organizations who were looking to buy on demand web space. Not only did they get rid of their waste (since it was unused space), they were able to make it available at a fraction of the industry’s going rates. Since Amazon was already managing these servers, they had no additional expenses. And these servers held market potential since they were top quality hardware being managed by top quality Amazon administrators. If your server went down, that meant Amazon store/data servers went down. So there is a vested interest from Amazon to keep your data stable and in working order.

S3 was only one of Amazon’s ways of getting rid of waste. In April 2007, they launched Fulfillment by Amazon. While S3 helped get rid of unused server space, Fulfillment by Amazon helped get rid of unused warehouse space. Again, they offer on demand storage space at a fraction of industry going rates that are managed and run by Amazon employees. They treat your packages just like their own, since to their employees - there is no difference.

In both cases, Amazon not only got rid of waste (unused space), but they helped the community and turned a profit. I liked to think of it fitting into the model set forth by William McDonough. According to him in Building Like Trees, Cities Like Forests,

Waste=Food. The processes of each organism in a living system contribute to the health of the whole. A fruit tree’s blossoms fall to the ground and decompose into food for other living things. Bacteria and fungi feed on the organic waste of both the tree and the animals that eat its fruit, depositing nutrients in the soil in a form ready for the tree to take up and convert into growth. One organism’s waste becomes food for another. One organism’s waste becomes food for another.

Isn’t that beautiful? What is all societies and businesses were able to do something similar?

Related Article

* Sustainability Is OUT, Eco-Effectiveness Is IN
* Growth is Good & Waste Equals Food