How are we showing sustainability and being environmentally friendly, you ask?

Sustainability and saving the planet, and what we doing to help.

2019, I'm going to go ahead and dub it the year of change. The year we all (well, perhaps just a large portion of us) decide enough is enough. It's on everyone's minds due to the mass of images of non-recyclables overfilling landfill, pollution, the decline of bees and the impact these things have on our environment... We can tell you, it's on our minds too. So what are we doing to lesson the effects on our environment? Let us explain.

Over our Summer break we had some time to unwind and focus on the year ahead. One of the topics that repeatably came up was what changes we could make and these were some of the solutions we are putting into practice/focus this year.

Bubble wrap is one product we think is pretty hard to replace. A few replacement ideas that were thrown around were either messy (shredded paper that would create an unpacking nightmare for our customers), not as soft and flexible for delicate pieces (corrugated cardboard) or not as protective (packing paper). And since soft packaging recycling is put on hold we are a wee bit tied on this one. So we did some testing... and we found a way which will reduce a third of our use of bubble wrap when packing a home. Although a third is not all, it's still a THIRD of the amount we would usually use in a home. We will call what a win until we can find a recycling station that takes it again or a product that can be easily recycled. In the meantime, once you've unpacked, offer it to someone you know who is moving. Reuse, reuse, reuse. 

Packing tape, the other non-recyclable plastic item we use that is in no way reusable. We have recently discovered water-activated tape which is 100% biodegradable, pressure sensitive paper tapes and 100% biodegradable clear tape. We will be testing these products over the next few months, but don't worry, we won't use them on site until we are entirely happy that the product will hold tight and not break open a box of fragiles on the floor...

Driving a big ole diesel truck, environmentally friendly? Ours are! Sure, they aren't electric and they are still a diesel, but they do have their own Diesel Particulate Diffuser (DPD) which minimises the amount of PM a truck emits via the exhaust. PM is a combination of black smoke and invisible particles emitted from a truck exhaust under load, and is formed during incomplete combustion of fuel. Composed of elemental carbon, heavy hydrocarbons and hydrated sulphuric acid. Neat huh! The trucks are also serviced often to keep them in tip top shape!

Our boxes, corrugated cardboard and packing paper are all made from recycled paper, non-coated and are 100% reusable and recyclable. Hurrah!

And last but really not least, we have planted a flower garden outside our office which is FULL of bees and also leave parts of the yard unmowed because those sweet little critters love the lawn weeds. Which makes us super happy. And them too!

Fell free to ask us any questions about our ongoing attempt to reduce waste or any suggestions you may have are always welcomed :)