The Zero-Waste Move: Earth Friendly Moving

Moving generally ranks right up there with a trip to the dentist as far as activities we dread. For a treehugger, that dread may be compounded by the seemingly inevitable amount of waste created: the cardboard boxes, wadded-up newspaper, packing peanuts and/or bubble wrap all tend to go straight to the curb or dumpster once they've served their purpose. Springwise highlights a Southern California company, Earth Friendly Moving, that's trying to lessen the waste created by offering clients a range of "zero-waste" moving products designed either for reuse or eco-friendly disposal.

At the heart of EFM's system is the RecoPack, a reusable container made from "...all of those hard-to-recycle colorful plastic bottles from under your kitchen sink, laundry room and garage shelves." They come in a variety of sizes, rent for $1 a week, and the company even delivers them to clients in trucks powered by a combination of biofuel and vegetable oil. Those trucks also double as a "paper mill": the vehicle's engines power an alternator that creates electricity for making the company's Geami Packing Paper at the site of the delivery. Other elements of the Earth Friendly Move include biodegradable Recocube packing pellets and Poopy Pallets made from recycled disposable diapers.

The company currently operates in Long Beach and Orange County, and has plans to expand throughout Southern California, and, eventually, nationwide. With the prices and services offered, it's hard to see how the concept wouldn't catch on... the only people we think that might not like Earth Friendly Moving would be the manufacturers of boxes, packing tape and Styrofoam peanuts.

From the looks of the company's website, they even try to remove some of that dread associated with moving -- founder Spencer Brown and VP of Operation Brian Anton certainly look like fun guys. They may be less successful at that, but the idea of a waste-free and relatively low-cost relocation could ease at least some of the stress. ::Earth Friendly Moving via Springwise