Swindon Founder Bets Reusable Crates Can Displace 8 Million Boxes

The UK burns through roughly eight million cardboard boxes every month on home moves, according to a research study published by eBay. Richard Howe, a 27-year-old entrepreneur from Swindon, has launched Crate Crew to take a slice out of that pile.

Crate Crew rents reusable moving crates to households in Swindon, Wiltshire, Oxfordshire and surrounding areas. The crates are made partly from recycled polypropylene, hold up to 25kg, and are water-resistant. Each unit is built to survive hundreds of uses before being recycled again, Howe says.

The idea came from social media. "I was browsing social media one day and I came across an American man who was just starting this same reusable moving crate business model over there," Howe said. "Having moved into my first house last year, I realised what an ingenious idea it was and wondered if moving crate rental was done over here in the UK."

His market research turned up a fragmented niche. Similar services already existed in the UK, but Howe found they were rare and frequently hobbled by high delivery fees and slow quoting processes. He positioned Crate Crew as the more accessible alternative — faster quotes, lower friction, same core product.

The design details matter for practicality. The crates feature built-in label holders and tamper-evident seals, and some rental packages include moving dollies to speed transport between property and van. Tamper seals give customers a security angle that disposable cardboard cannot match.

Howe is not a first-time founder. He started businesses while still at school, including a mobile car detailing service and an online resale shop. A spinal fusion at age 17 to treat scoliosis left him with chronic pain and ended any prospect of manual work. "I went to a special agricultural college to learn all the skills required for that landscaping business, but sadly my dream got cut short," he said. "This made the manual labour side of that business no longer possible for me, so I ended up working in retail for a good few years."

Earlier this year he moved into full-time self-employment through online sales. That flexibility gave him room to build a second venture aligned with his interest in the circular economy. Crate Crew is the result.

The environmental pitch sits at the centre of the business case. "The first advantage is, of course, the environmental benefits," Howe said, citing the eBay figure on monthly cardboard consumption. A crate rated for hundreds of trips displaces that volume of single-use packaging over its life, at least in theory, and the recycled-polypropylene construction extends the loop further.

The commercial logic is equally straightforward. Rental models generate repeat revenue per asset rather than one-off sales, and delivery logistics — the very cost that Howe says blunted incumbent rivals — will determine whether he can scale profitably across the region.

His 12-month roadmap reflects an operator thinking in inventory terms. Howe plans to expand the crate inventory, launch new advertising campaigns, and potentially introduce reusable wardrobe boxes to simplify moving clothes. The wardrobe product would extend the rental proposition to a category where cardboard substitutes perform poorly.

The test ahead is execution. The UK moving-crate rental market is thin, with incumbents weakened by delivery fees and quoting delays rather than demand. If Crate Crew can hold its logistics costs down while building local density in Swindon and Oxfordshire, it will have a template for regional expansion; if delivery economics bite, it risks repeating the very weakness it was built to exploit.