Anyone who has moved recently will know
that it involves a lot of cardboard boxes, and what happens to these at the end
of the day? Invariably they get trashed, thrown away, and wind up in landfills
where they rot and produce greenhouse gases. Here we introduce you to the
concept of recycled plastic boxes as an alternative storage and moving
solution.
Recycled plastic products are the future.
As the world becomes more eco-conscious due
to growing awareness of what ingredients go into the products they are buying
and using and the impact it has on the environment, there are companies popping
up all over the place to provide what aren’t necessarily new services but ones
with a different angle, and the angle is that they are green and a friend to
the environment. This is good news for the earth and its population as it
offers consumers a lot more choice in the range of green products and services
available.
One
area that can be confusing is the paper and cardboard versus plastic issue.
It’s commonly known that paper products are better to buy as they are
bio-degradable, whilst plastics play a large part in the ruin of the world’s
marine life, can cause injury and more to its wildlife, and threatens the
wellbeing of its people. Ask most consumers whether paper or plastic is more
environmentally friendly and they will opt for paper, however in the long run
it can be a better option to go for plastic products.
Let’s take a closer look at the case of
cardboard boxes versus plastic ones for instance. Most people go out and buy
new cardboard boxes for their moving and packing needs. Once the move is over
what do they then do with all these cardboard boxes? Some might be saved for
future use, or used for storing other items around the office or home.
Generally however people throw them away on the basis that it’s ok because they
are biodegradable.
To get a clearer picture you have to look at
it long-term, there are lots of trees cut down to produce paper and this
requires a considerable quantity of energy. Then there are the fantastic
amounts of power needed to crush it up into small fibres, mix up the wood pulp
and pass it through rollers in order to get the end product of paper.
Paper and cardboard also generate a lot more
greenhouse gases than plastic as they tend to end their days in landfills where
they are left to decompose anaerobically and produce the greenhouse gas methane
whilst doing so.
The advantages of packing boxes made from recycled
plastic are that they don't decompose and are a lot more reusable than paper
products, and the carbon cost of recycled plastic over the period of time they
last is much less too.
One company that realised the potential for
being green in the storage industry is Boomerang Box, a service that rents
out packing boxes for customers who are moving premises. But these aren’t any
regular cardboard boxes that get damaged and broken, wet or torn, or thrown
away to wind up decomposing in a landfill. These are industrial-strength
plastic storage boxes that last a long long time, involve no deforestation, and
are passed from one customer to the next at very little cost.
Boomerang Box is a great name for the
company as just like the Australian curved stick they return to their original
owners once they’ve had their use. Throw a boomerang in the correct manner and
it will return to you, send out a boomerang box and eventually it’ll come back
too!
