An Environmental Move

The “Environmental Move” program was born out of being in the residential/commercial moving industry for 16 years and watching an endless waste stream going to well… waste. According to the Environmental Protection agency (EPA) about 70% of cardboard is recovered for recycling. However, that’s a commercial statistic that is being retrieved from companies responsible enough to participate, not the every day individual. More closely this does not include the individual that is stressed and overwhelmed with the woes of moving that the last thing they are worried about is making sure all of the their packing material discard is properly recycled. Understandably so!! After years of closing out with clients moving into their new homes and being approached with the question “what do i do with all these boxes?” “do yall take boxes?” “do you know anyone that will recycle these boxes for me?” and the answer never feeling quite right. I knew i needed to do something! Some moving companies will take packing waste for a premium haul off fee and some companies won’t do it at all. Either way very rarely is that cardboard ever going to make it to a proper recycling center. Most companies that charge this haul off fee do so to cover the cost of a dump fee and labor for employees to take it there. There had to be another alternative. One that was practical, cost effective, and environmentally beneficial.

After diving into the world of regenerative agriculture I realized how much of a key role agriculture played in the health of the environment. One of the biggest factors here being soil health. That’s right, good ol’ dirt! You see there is a lot more going on with that stuff on the bottom of your shoe than you might think. Now without going to deeply into this topic i’ll just explain how the cardboard plays a role here. A big topic in regenerative farming is “carbon sequestration”; the process of capturing atmospheric carbon dioxide. In layman’s terms plants can pull carbon dioxide out of the air. The longer the life span of the plant and it’s overall size will dictate how much carbon it can actually sequester. So, building healthy soil that can grow plants that can help with pollution is the ultimate goal. Better soil = more plants = less air pollution = healthier planet!!

Now for the cardboard itself! We use the cardboard in a lot of different ways but eventually it will always make it’s way back into the earth. Some examples are; signage for events, arts and crafts, weed barrier in gardens, mulch in walkways and garden beds, bedding for animals, egg laying boxes for chickens, moisture control under structures, insulation in animal houses during winter, wind and rain barrier for animals, and at the end of the whatever the cardboards purpose was it goes into the compost bin to be turned into rich soil that will grow food for our neighbors. We also make all of our cardboard available to our local community so that that can re-purpose it in these same ways.

For any questions or interest in helping us with this initiative please contact us below. Thanks yall!

Current partners:

Einstein Moving Company

Greater Austin Moving