General Motors and Partners Create Detroit Urban Garden Using Repurposed Shipping Crates

GM’s metal shipping crates were repurposed into raised beds. Photo: John F. Martin for General Motors They paved paradise and put up a parking lot. The lot was abandoned. Katherine Guzman, 8, of Detroit fills her bag with tomatoes and peppers during the opening Wednesday of Cadillac Urban Gardens. Officially opened Wednesday, the gardens are a collaborative effort initiated in April between General Motors, Ideal Group, Southwest Detroit Environmental Vision, and local composting company, Detroit Dirt. Detroit Dirt founder Pashon Murray, left, and John Bradburn, manager of General Motors’ waste reduction efforts, helped tend the Cadillac Urban Gardens. “Instead of recycling this material, we found a direct reuse, which saves energy and resources,” said John Bradburn, GM’s manager of waste reduction efforts. One of the metal shipping crates repurposed as a raised bed. Katherine Guzman, 8, of Detroit looking for peppers. Photo: John F. The farms, some say, may also raise home values. Related: