Hey there Friend,

 

Growing up in Los Angeles in the sixties and seventies, I would often have a funny feeling in my chest after playing outside for a couple of hours. It never occurred to me that I only felt that funny feeling on those “cloudy” days in the LA basin. I remember once, perhaps on a clear day after a rain, I looked up and saw the Hollywood sign, wondering how long that had been there. Seeing and feeling the improvement in LA’s air quality, I am grateful for catalytic converters and other innovations meant to protect our lungs and general health, especially when I’m in the backyard with my grandkid.

 

As a business owner that relies on trucks to provide services, I find myself torn between the cost and benefit of cleaner air. At great cost, we continue to upgrade and replace segments of our fleet to meet California’s strict emission's requirements for diesel engines. Honestly, these ever-changing requirements can feel quite burdensome. Then again, I’m reminded of the big picture when I see children playing outdoors and think back to those “cloudy” days of my youth.

 

 

It would be wasteful to replace our entire fleet at once. However, year by year, truck by truck, we upgrade our fleet to meet the state’s emissions standards—the strictest in the country—thereby ensuring that we are driving an efficient fleet.

 

There has been discussion in the moving industry about replacing cardboard boxes with reusable plastic bins. However, we have taken a different approach to cleaning up packing materials. We avoid petroleum-based plastic bins that have limited lifecycles. Instead, we utilize recyclable cardboard boxes and packing material that consist of high post-consumer content. We do not sell or use non-biodegradable packing materials such as Styrofoam and packing peanuts. We encourage the re-use of packing materials by providing used materials for free to our customers.

 

We encourage our clients to minimize their moving needs by decluttering before their move. Frankly, we do this to help our clients stay within budget. However, a minimal bill is also a greener bill. Additionally, by encouraging our clients to begin this process early, we give them enough time to get rid of their unwanted items responsibly, be it via reuse, recycling, donation, or responsible disposal.

 

While moving homes is a very irregular chore done once every 3–10 years for our clients, for Camelot it is a daily occurrence. Therefore, it is on us to analyze how we can deliver this service safely, cleanly, efficiently, and responsibly. So, we ask ourselves, “Is there something we can do to be cleaner?"