Over the last year we have been inundated with news and information regarding climate change and other depressing news about the state of our environment. It can be really worrying when we look at all of this information. We can feel helpless and its easy to fear for the future of the planet. However, we at Global Exclusive Movers’ Network (GEM) think that it is important to look on the bright side and talk about things that we as individuals and us as businesses can do to play our part in living greener!
As individuals it is amazing to see so many people doing their part for the planet and excellent to see everyone globally taking little steps for a greener life. The biggest change we are seeing is people using reusable cloth bags instead of plastic single use ones when doing their grocery shopping. This avoids so much plastic waste that would normally end up in landfills.
This awareness is also starting to transfer from individuals to businesses and moving companies are not being left behind in this great green revolution. There is so much more to do but every step that a moving company takes is a step in the right direction. This month we are going to look at some steps moving companies can take to improve their environmental footprint.
With every move there is a lot of possible environmental impacts to consider. Emissions from your trucks and vans is a big one. With companies like Tesla churning out electric cars and many other companies working on hybrids and electrical motors the future looks good. To change your entire fleet right away to electric or hybrid vehicles is an impossible task as it would just be too expensive so should be more of a long-term goal. Something that can be done to improve emissions is switching to biofuel. Biofuel requires no alterations to the vehicles as almost all diesel engines can be switched to running on bio diesel without any alterations. Bio fuel is also non-toxic so any spills into the earth won’t cause any damage. If bio diesel is available in your area maybe it is worth trying!
When you hear the word moving you immediately think packaging materials. This is what we will discuss next. The use of plastic and Styrofoam packing pellets in the moving industry was huge and still is in some locations. Plastic does, lets face it, work well for protection from water and provides excellent cushioning protection in the form of bubble wrap but we cannot escape the fact that once disposed of it takes centuries to completely break down and poses a terrible risk to wildlife wherever it ends up. There are now many suppliers to the moving industry who are also getting onto the environmental protection bandwagon and are offering many kinds of eco-friendly products. Some of these include corrugated paper versions of bubble wrap. These are great and now many companies are even going one step further on the eco-friendly path and producing this fantastic packing product from recycled materials. Another eco friendly option is recycled packing paper and biodegradable packing peanuts.
Although eco friendly and plastic do not often go hand in hand there are exceptions to the rule. Take packing boxes for example. Traditional cardboard packing boxes are great and can be recycled but often in reality they end up being thrown away. The traditional packing cardboard box’s life isn’t long as they get easily damaged. This is where stackable plastic boxes come in! They stack beautifully and can be sealed tightly to avoid water damage to the contents. While a traditional cardboard packing box has only a few moves in it, these plastic packing bins have a long life and can be easily emblazed in your company colours.
We all have a responsibility to future generations and it is brilliant to see so many moving companies taking steps for a cleaner world!
Written by Matthew O’Hagan
