Thinking Outside the Cardboard Box: PACT Aims to Reduce Waste Tied to Moving

April is here, which means it is Earth Month, as well as the start of spring moving season.

PACT, LLC, a manufacturing company in Watertown, is putting sustainability at the forefront: reducing the waste generated by moving.

“We've always been pushing for the full sustainability,” Rodger Mort, PACT, LLC president, said.

At the family-owned company, they think outside the average cardboard box. PACT aims to reduce the amount of moving waste in landfills by offering a line of reusable and recyclable corrugated cardboard containers for commercial, industrial and military sectors.

Each year, the moving industry generates tons of waste: 900 million cardboard boxes, 90 million pounds of packing paper and 30 million rolls of tape, according to MoveBudha.com.

Anyone who has ever had to relocate knows firsthand the sheer amount of packing material needed, and the professionals at Clancy Relocation & Logistics are conscious of the waste.

“Depending on the size of the move, can generate a few 100 pounds to a few 100 tons,” Jim Carey, Clancy Relocation & Logistics senior vice president, said.

It’s why Clancy sources products from PACT.

“We met PACT a few years ago,” Carey said. “Since then, we figured out that their corrugated solution, and how durable it is, can be used many times over.”

Cardboard boxes became the standard for packing and shipping in the early 1900s. Over the years, PACT had several patents created to turn the flutes of the corrugated cardboard the opposite direction, making them much more durable.

“These crates can hold 4,000 pounds on top,” Mort said. “That gives it the strength of wood, but it's a third of the weight of wood.”

Unlike standard cardboard, PACT’s products are water resistant and can withstand extreme temperatures and pressures, making them last for multiple moves.

This corrugated cardboard is water resistant, and it can withstand extreme temperatures and pressures. Because it's so strong, it can be used for multiple moves.

“We have customers moving stuff hundreds of times in the same crate,” Mort said. “You're not coming up with a whole new package every time and then discarding the package, you're actually using the same crate. And in some cases, since 2009, they're still using the same crates today. We have customers that are well over 200, 300 uses.”

PACT has 25 clients in Connecticut, and more than 2,000 nationwide.

It provides boxes to military companies, where they will put parts to transport to submarines and ships.

PACT builds sturdy containers for international shipping and offers alternative packing materials to major moving companies.

“They use it instead of using bubble wrap,” Mort said.

The company even supplies crates to move high-end art.

“You can slide one in every slot,” Mort said, showing slots in the box where paintings can be safely transported.

Although the packages can be used for more than a decade, once their life cycle comes to an end, they are all recyclable.

“If you can help out the planet and make things better for everybody, that’s great,” Mort said.

Carey says at Clancy, which orchestrates thousands of moves each year, every piece adds up.

“We have a responsibility to take care of it the right way,” Carey said. “If we can have a product like PACT’s, which we can use repeatedly, each and every time we use it, it's one less piece it has to go to the landfill.”