Thinking outside the box
April 16th, 2009
It’s been several years since my last move, but since then, I’ve been saving that move’s cardboard boxes in the garage in the hopes of one day reusing them. After all, they weren’t easy to procure. At the time, there were only two budget- and eco-friendly moving options: amass a collection of used cardboard boxes from liquor stores, dumpsters, and “free used box” postings on Craigslist; or use a service like UsedCardboardBoxes.com, which, just like it sounds, sells used cardboard boxes online and delivers them to your door. But even used cardboard boxes, it’s worth noting, are not a guilt-free solution; ultimately, they wind up in a landfill — not to mention all the trees that are initially cut down to manufacture those boxes.
Thankfully, Spencer Brown, the founder of Rent-a-Green Box, a three-year-old startup based out of Costa Mesa, CA, has come up with an ingenious solution: the Recopack (recycled ecological packing solution), a reusable green (both eco-friendly and the color green) box made from 100 percent hard-to-recycle plastic trash culled from local landfills. Available in three sizes, the Recopacks are delivered to your door a week before you move, allowing you time to pack, and are then picked up at your new place a week after you move. The company has also created a dizzying array of packing accoutrements made from creatively recycled materials, including “recocubes,” an alternative to petroleum-based styrofoam packing peanuts made from 100 percent recycled newspaper sludge; the “reco-dolly,” made from 100 percent recycled aluminum cans; and the unforgettably named “poopy pallet,” made from recycled (and sanitized) baby diapers. Oh, and the Recopacks and packing materials are delivered to your home by the company’s fleet of veggie oil- and bio-fueled trucks.
My friends used Rent-a-Green Box for their recent local move, so I was able to see the Recopacks in action. They’re lightweight, very durable, and stack easily. They’re also relatively affordable: about $199 for a 2-person, 2-bedroom apartment move; a similar moving pack from UsedCardboardBoxes.com goes for $123 (brand-new cardboard boxes from U-Haul will run you about $165). The Rent-a-Green Box website claims that its service will cut your packing and moving costs by 50 percent, although most of the explanation linked to that claim has to do with time savings (not having to break down all of those cardboard boxes, etc.) rather than hard costs (although time is money).
Currently, Rent-a-Green Box is only available in Los Angeles and Orange County, as well as areas of the Inland Empire and San Diego County, but the company is growing and has plans to expand nationwide over the next three years.
Have you used Rent-a-Green Box for a recent move? Drop me a note and let me know how it went!
–Jennifer Grayson
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April 20th, 2009 at 9:10 am
I haven’t used their service but I’ve been watching and enjoying the company from the start; Spencer is a real cool guy and has put a lot out ‘thar’ for the world to see (both about his company and how to drive an “invention”) … most defiantly one of the companies who make the world a better place and you should use them even if did cost a little more to move.
April 20th, 2009 at 9:24 am
Great article and I’m so happy that people are talking about this. My sister lives on the East Coast and used http://www.usedcardboardboxes.com. She was so happy with the service (it was super cheap and free delivery). She told me about it and I used them, here in LA. The boxes came the next day, they delivered for free (just like my sister) and I still have a lot of the boxes. Its pretty amazing and it just makes sense. Big companies are throwing these boxes away… so we can get them and use them for cheap. No worries about returning them, or missing your return date (being charged overages like blockbuster and your cell phone) and there is no manufacturing in the process at all. They just take a box that was used once, and give it to someone else. Personally, I really think there is no need to manufacture things (even if they are earth-friendly things) when we have all resources we need, already. Just my two cents.