Having recently moved I experienced the potential waste and expense that traditional moving supplies, particularly cardboard boxes, create.  Now there’s a better, greener way.

ZippGo, a new company out of San Francisco, is a business that helps make local moving both greener, and more cost effective.  ZippGo rents you re-usable packing boxes specifically designed for urban household and business moves  – at a better price than buying cardboard boxes – and they pick them up after your move.  The boxes are crush proof, tear proof and waterproof.

Company founder Ash Sud came up with concept after using re-usable plastic boxes in his other business – home delivery of organic groceries – and then having to move a couple of times in San Francisco.  He realized that plastic boxes performed much better than cardboard in protecting his valuable belongings.  Ash also came up with the idea of picking up the boxes after his customer has moved, eliminating the cardboard disposal and recycling issues associated with tradition moving materials (un-recycled cardboard makes up a large percentage of landfill composition).  He’s made ZippGo even greener by manufacturing his moving boxes out of 100% post-consumer plastic, and powering his delivery trucks with earth-friendly biodiesel.

Currently ZippGo is only servicing the San Fransisco Bay area, but due to an overwhelmingly positive customer response,  ZippGo will be opening another office in Los Angeles later this year and plans are in the works for expansion to Boston, Chicago and New York in 2011.

A fine example of thinking “outside the box“.