Moving can be a big hassle. Packing up your possessions and carting them to a new home, whether it’s across the street or across the country, is a challenge. And then there’s all those empty boxes …
Plastics can help. Whether you’re moving yourself or bringing in the professionals, durable plastic crates can make the process a bit easier – and a lot greener.
Instead of scrounging cardboard boxes, you do-it-yourselfers now can ask companies such as Rent a Green Box to deliver durable, reusable crates made of recycled plastic right to your home (on their truck fleet powered by bio-fuels). And once you’ve unpacked in your new home, the company will pick up the crates so they can be reused again. And again… The company claims that 500 pounds of plastic are diverted from landfills for every 100 crates rented, along with more than 350 pounds of packing and moving waste.
Or if you would rather hire professional movers, companies such as Rent-A-Crate can arrange door-to-door moving service using plastic crates. According to the company, its plastic crates leave a lighter footprint on the Earth than traditional cardboard boxes:
- They require 39 percent less energy to produce;
- They create 95 percent less solid waste; and
- They have an average lifespan of 17 years, so they generate 29 percent less greenhouse gas emissions.
And when they’re worn out? The old crates can be recycled into new crates with the addition of a little new plastic.
Both companies claim that using their reusable plastic crates can save clients money – up to 50 percent on your move. So you can move greener and save green.









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Wow! What a great idea. This really is a great example of how plastics can be of a benefit to the environment. Theres a company called ENSO Bottles which makes an additive that makes plastics biodegradable. Its for those plastic items that don’t get recycled but in up in landfills or other microbial environments.
Steve, Why would you want to take perfectly wonderful plastic and make it fall apart? It is better to recycle the plastic. Recycling plastic saves energy. If the plastic does not get recycled, but gets trashed instead, then it can just sit in the landfill doing nothing. But please do not mess up plastic recycling with fool hardy marketing schemes like an additive that makes plastic fall apart.