The Eco-Business Spotlight is Nadi Marketing’s monthly series highlighting businesses and entrepreneurs leading the way with sustainable practices and making a lasting impact.

This month I’m introducing you to A Smart Move, San Diego’s premier moving box rental company. In this interview with the founder of A Smart Move, Lindsay Curtis, shares the inspiration behind her eco-business and gives advice to anyone looking to start their own.

I’m lucky to discover them before I moved, because not only was it helpful to coordinate my move, but contributed to my low waste move. These reusable moving bins allowed me not to use a single-use cardboard box and it feels great to know that my move created little waste. If you are planning to move personally or your office in 2022 and in the San Diego area, I would encourage you to rent these bins from A Smart Move. If you are outside San Diego, search for “moving box rentals” or “reusable bins” to see if you can find a similar company.

 

What is your eco-business and what inspired you?

We are A SMART MOVE; a woman-owned, green moving solution based in San Diego. A SMART MOVE eliminates the stress and waste that come along with packing and moving by renting reusable moving boxes and delivering them right to your front door. After your move, A SMART MOVE picks the boxes up from your new place, leaving you with nothing to do but relax and enjoy your new space. A SMART MOVE began when CEO Lindsay Curtis, a mother of 3, moved a whopping 5 times in 7 years. Besides the stress and cost of moving her family of 5 so many times, the trash left over after each move was simply staggering. Lindsay knew there had to be a better way. When she couldn’t find one, she created one. Lindsay wanted her plan to address both the stress-inducing process of moving, and the mountains of trash ending up in landfills afterwards. Cardboard, tape, and plastic wrap are single-use items that are quickly discarded after a move. About 1 MILLION cardboard boxes are used or moving and discarded every year in San Diego alone. Along with the heaps of garbage left to rot, many hundreds of thousands of trees are harvested yearly to keep up with the needs of those packing and moving. Shockingly, all this damage done to the environment doesn’t add any convenience or cost benefits as cardboard is less sturdy, leads to more items damaged in transition, and is more expensive than renting reusable boxes. Each boxes at A SMART MOVE is made from 100% recycled plastic. Our boxes each save 2-3 trees over their lifetime, and replace the use of 200 cardboard boxes, keeping them out of landfills. Sustainability is a major focus at A SMART MOVE, and that’s why every box is not only made from recycled material, but is 100% recyclable too. After a box is retired from service it is recycled, and a brand new box is born. No Stress, no mess. Now that’s A SMART MOVE..

Any advice to those looking to start their own eco-business?

If you want to make a difference and you are passionate about helping then you must never give-up. It took some hard work for A SMART MOVE, a woman-owned business, to break ground and begin truly making a difference in the widely male-dominated moving industry. Through the thick and thin we have been guided by our core values, a desire to keep San Diego beautiful for our children and every generation to come, and a quote from Theodore Roosevelt, “Do what you can, with what you have, where you are.” A SMART MOVE started small, one mother with a simple idea and hope for a better way. No matter the mountain you may be facing, when you let your passion to make a difference guide you, you absolutely can do it and nobody can stop you!

What do you love most about being an eco-business and what drives you to keep going at it?

We love our interactions with customers the most. The smiles we get when a new client realizes that they won’t be spending 2 whole days prior to a stressful move buying and assembling dozens of cardboard boxes. The sighs of relief at not being left with a mountain of trash on their first day in their brand new home. These smiles make all the hard work worth it and many clients have become true friends. A SMART MOVE also takes great pride in having the opportunity to serve our local community. Whether offering free moving services to those in danger of domestic violence, to moving stranded student’s belongings out of dorms when SDSU was shut down due to COVID, we are happiest when we get to make a positive impact in someone’s life.

Contact A Smart Move

If you are an eco-business and would like to be featured, please fill out our Eco-Business Spotlight Form or contact us.

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