An out-of-the-box idea is saving the environment and making money for an Alpharetta company.

A.C. White Relocations has become one of the first companies to sell slightly used cardboard moving boxes in the south.  The company's Pete White tells WSB they got the idea from Hix Hardy, owner of Best Prices Boxes in Texas.  Hardy says he got the idea after he saw six feet of moving boxes in his neighbor's driveway.’

"It just kind of came as a joke.  I talked to my wife, ‘would you ever buy used boxes if you get them a lot cheaper?’ She basically laughed and said ‘yeah, I wouldn't care as long as they weren't torn or ripped, I'd buy them,’" said Hardy.

Hardy says they used a metal building they owned to store all of the used boxes in.  In one day, they were completely sold out.

The company has continued to grow and spread nationwide.  When White was approached by Hardy, he thought it was a concept and they started re-selling the used boxes a little more than two months.

"We thought that we would generate $500 a month, and I think we're already close to $3000 this first month," said White.

He says buying slightly used boxes over new ones saves customers about 30 percent.

"The economy that we're in today, a lot of folks are trying to save money and they're trying reuse things.  That's what we're doing here and we're offering to buy back the cartons that the customers do purchase from us," said White.

He calls it helping the environment one box at a time.

Recycling one ton of cardboard saves 17 trees from having to be cut down and used for pulp, saves 7,000 gallons of water, cuts pollution, saves 11 barrels of oil, and saves three cubic yards of landfill space.