Posts Tagged ‘cardboard moving boxes’

Urban Living? You Don’t Have to Give Up Your Garden

Monday, March 21st, 2011

The San Francisco Bay area is well known for many things, its mild climate being one of them. One of the things that draws so many people to this area is the fact that there is a relatively predictable weather that is pleasant and nearly perfect. It makes an excellent catalyst for gardens of both the floral and vegetable variety. However, if you are living in the city, planting a garden in the parking lot of your apartment is simply not a viable option—and the local authorities would probably have quite a few things to say if you tried.

Take heart, though. Just because you don’t have a plot of land to till and love doesn’t mean you can’t still enjoy gardening on a smaller scale. Indoor gardening can be very rewarding, add a breath of life to an otherwise simple or bland home environment, and in the cases of a vegetable garden, provide you with a small sampling of your own home grown produce.

Unorthodox Gardens: Bringing the Outdoors In

If there is one major advantage of indoor gardening over the outdoor variety it is having a controlled environment for your plants. As wonderful as San Francisco weather is, we all know how unpredictable even the mildest weather can be at times. Inside your apartment, you won’t have to worry about wind gusts knocking your plants over, unusually dry periods causing your plants to shrivel, or a late frost coming in and killing your seedlings just as they were beginning to thrive. You also won’t have to worry about those pesky weeds taking over since there will be no wind or animals to carry their seeds into your soil.

Your biggest indoor garden disadvantage, however, will be a lack of natural sunlight. If you are trying to grow a small vegetable garden indoors, you’ll also have the problem of limited natural pollination owing to the lack of wind and bees. Both of these situations can be remedied though, by taking your plants out a few hours every week and using a cotton swab to carefully pollinate the flowers by hand. Window boxes are excellent for plants that enjoy high light, but be careful not to put any plants in a window box that require only low to medium light as they may scorch.

You’ll have to decide which types of plants you’d like in your indoor garden and how you’d like to configure them. Do you want large green plants in decorative containers or long troughs of perennials to add vibrant color along the borders of your room? Make sure your containers are large enough to allow the roots plenty of room to spread out but small enough that you can easily move them around and set them outside when they need a little fresh air and light.

If you are moving to the San Francisco Bay area, why not let Zippgo help you with your moving boxes needs? If you are interested in gardening, then you obviously have a bit of green in you and our green moving boxes are leaps and bounds above traditional cardboard moving boxes in terms of environmentally friendliness. Since they are plastic, they can be reused up to 400 times before being sent off for recycling, unlike cardboard that may give you 2 or 3 uses before it falls apart. We’ll even deliver our green moving boxes to you to take one more stress off your shoulders!

Recycle or Reuse? Stepping Up Your Green Game

Monday, November 29th, 2010

I don’t think anyone would argue the fact that recycling is better than discarding altogether. Still, recycling items such as plastic water bottles, cardboard moving boxes, and glass containers requires a good bit of energy. It may save unnecessary waste from finding its way into the landfills, but what of the natural resources required to generate the energy for the recycling process? What of the green house gases that are inevitable as fuels are burned to operate the recycling facility? Recycling may be better than throwing out, but when all things are considered there is still a better solution.reused and recycled can tabs

Yeah, you read that right. A green company just told you that recycling isn’t best. Now before you go getting all worked up into a tizzy, let me explain. Recycling is not a bad thing…it is a very, very good thing. In fact, ZippGo uses recycled plastic moving containers for its services. But we do not use a “new” recycled container every time a customer needs one. We use those babies until they simply are not serviceable anymore—about 500 times each, and only then do we send them to be recycled again.

That’s the key, now isn’t it? Why use all that energy recycling something when you can simply reuse it? As wonderful as reusing is for moving containers, you can reuse all manner of items. Consider the things you casually toss in the garbage or recycle bin and think of a better purpose for them.

Green Good vs. Green BEST

  • Green goodness is reusing your plastic grocery bags as a means of storage or transport of other items. Green BEST is ditching the plastic altogether and getting a canvas tote that you can use and reuse for shopping or toting anything around town.
  • Green goodness is passing your cardboard moving boxes on to the next family to reuse (if the boxes are up to it). Green BEST is renting reusable plastic moving boxes that last much, much longer (and we’ve got them right here at ZippGo).
  • Green goodness is recycling your glass jars at your local recycling center. Green BEST is using those jars as storage containers for your leftovers, craft items, piggy banks, or a plethora of other small items.
  • Green goodness is recycling your plastic water bottles rather than throwing them out. Green BEST is purchasing one sturdy water bottle to refill and reuse.
  • Green goodness is recycling your used batteries in a safe way that doesn’t harm the environment. Green BEST is purchasing rechargeable batteries to begin with.

Is it starting to make sense? Good!

Get Greener by Getting Resourceful

Even the clothes on your back require energy to make. Shop around garage sales and thrift stores for gently used items and save both the environment and your pocketbook. Eat more raw fruits and vegetable to reduce the energy spent on cooking. Use any item you can until it is irreparable and then recycle it. That is ZippGo’s stand on the matter and it’s served us well so far, not to mention the good it’s done for the environment. Will you join us?

The Cheapest Way To Get Moving Boxes

Thursday, November 11th, 2010

Okay, so let’s face facts…Times are tough. The economy still hasn’t recovered and many of us aren’t looking to spend a lot when it comes to moving.  You might be moving for one of many reasons, but whatever the reason, let me tell you…it’s often much more expensive than you think. There are some basic expenses that you’ve probably already thought of:

Man stuffed into car with cardboard boxes

Don't get moving boxes this way!

  • The moving truck or van
  • The deposit or money involved with getting into your new place
  • The huge trip to the grocery store to stock your new home or apartment with food
  • The utility hook-up fees

What About Boxes for Moving?

If you are trying to save money, you may be considering going the “old fashioned” route and collecting cardboard boxes for moving from your local grocery store. It’s got to be the cheapest way to pack your belongings, right? Well, you may think so, but in reality…no. Let’s break down what’s actually involved in collecting your own boxes.

  • Numerous trips to the local grocery store, Sams Club, WalMart or wherever you choose to try to locate these boxes. Sometimes you’ll get lucky and be able to score 20 boxes from the same place, but guess what? You don’t have your moving truck yet because you’re in the packing stage of the game, so you can only fit 8 boxes in your vehicle….fail.
  • Sometimes you’ll be able to get boxes that are already broken down. This sounds like a good plan, since you’ll be able to fit all 20 of them in your vehicle at once. Cheap and convenient, right? …Wrong. Now you’ll have the added expense of purchasing packing tape to put the boxes together. Think you’ll only need one or two rolls, so it will only cost a few dollars? Wrong again. The average price of a roll of packing tape with a dispenser is between $4 and $6, depending on where you go. You’ll be able to put together approximately 10 boxes with one roll of tape. Since an average move uses at least 50 boxes, you’ve just cost yourself at least $30 in packing tape.
  • Gas used collecting boxes. Unless you happen to work at a place that will supply you with boxes, you’re going to have to use gas and time for “box hunting.” A normal trip around your city to locate boxes could end up costing you at least a few gallons of gas. There’s an extra $10.

Are you tired yet? I thought so. I realize that the above analysis was pretty nit picky, but all things considered, it just makes good sense to move green. Each ZippGo moving box is clean, safe, made out of 100% recycled plastic, and is 27 inches long x 17 inches wide and 12 inches high. They have an attached lid that seals and locks with the Zipp ties we provide. No packing tape is needed and you won’t have to run around town looking for boxes.  We also include box labels made from post-consumer recycled paper and a custom moving dolly.  We’ll bring your green moving boxes right to your door and pick em’ up when you’re done!

ZippGo Green Moving Boxes vs. Cardboard Boxes

Friday, September 10th, 2010

We knew using ZippGo boxes for moving and packing is cheaper and greener than using cardboard boxes, but are they faster? We decided to put ZippGo boxes to the test, by doing a head to head competition with cardboard boxes. It should be no surprise who finished first, but wait till you see what we were able to do with all the extra time we had!

ZippGo Green Moving Boxes vs. Cardboard Moving Boxes from Ash S. on Vimeo.