NOR-CAL GOES GREEN
Nor-Cal Moving First in Industry to Get Green Certification
in East Bay and Peninsula

Leading Moving Company One of Few in the State, Nation to Go Green

April 2008– Nor-Cal Moving Service’s fleet of trucks isn’t green on the outside, but the company is green on the inside. And that’s official.

Nor-Cal Moving Services, one of California’s largest moving and storage companies, recently became the only one in its industry to win green certification in Alameda and Santa Clara Counties. Nor-Cal operates extensively throughout California and—through Allied Van Lines—across the country and internationally.

The commercial and residential moving company is also one of the few transportation companies in the state and the country to achieve the type of environmental distinction awarded by the Bay Area Green Business Program for meeting “higher standards of environmental performance.”

The green certification was developed by Bay Area local governments in collaboration with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Cal EPA Department of Toxic Substances Control and the business community. The program is coordinated by the Association of Bay Area Government Programs.
See: http://www.greenbiz.ca.gov/index.html

Green certification is awarded only to companies that have met extensive and strict inspection standards for sustainable practices in solid waste reduction, energy conservation, water use and pollution prevention. Nor-Cal’s application and multi-agency review process took six months. (More details available upon request.)

Nor-Cal also encourages customers to select used boxes, they recycle metal furniture from their customers and they have used bio-diesel fuel throughout their fleet of over 75 trucks for more than a year.

Nor-Cal also earned the certification in part because of an innovative Electronic Hardware Recycling program it created recently that retrieves several tons of discarded “e-goods” from companies and organizations each month and delivers them to recycling centers. Its unique pick-up service was started last year and has grown to become a part of the company’s regular services to customers.

“Every week we move offices and sometimes entire manufacturing plants from one place to another,” says Nor-Cal President Peter Mazzetti Jr. “We perceived that during this process, we can help dispose of unwanted equipment in a more ethical manner. We’re business people, but we’re also citizens of this planet. We want to do what we can to make it easier for people to abide by the law.”

Nor-Cal’s E-Goods Pick-up Service Showing Results
Nor-Cal’s inexpensive pick-up service was recently launched to retrieve the sort of toxic electronic hardware that companies and organizations once dumped into landfills. Nor-Cal delivers the truckloads of antiquated computers and other electronic hardware it collects to facilities that will break down the equipment for re-use or environmentally safe disposal.

Companies using Nor-Cal’s e-goods recycling service are also pleased to free up warehouse or storage room space they were having to devote to storing old equipment that state and local laws now prohibit them from dumping. By using Nor-Cal, they also don’t have to transport the used e-goods and locate a licensed recycling center.

Says Nor-Cal customer Phillip Cheng of Phillips Medical, "Using Nor-Cal to remove our old computers and monitors made it easy for our company to meet the new state laws requiring legal disposal. It also opened up needed space in our storage rooms. One phone call was all it took."

“Technological innovations are great, but they are also driving an epidemic of disposal,” says Mazzetti. “For example, people are getting rid of their old CRT monitors in favor of flat screens. And now with the advent of the Microsoft Vista operating system people will want to upgrade to more robust computers. That means tons and tons of unwanted hardware.”

California’s recent Electronic Waste Recycling Act, along with various federal and local statutes, makes it illegal to discard “end of life” electronic equipment. The California Integrated Waste Management Board is in charge of overseeing compliance.

In addition to enacting laws and issuing regulations, government agencies and environmental groups are encouraging organizations to practice the “three R’s” of clean practices: Reduce, Reuse and Recycle. For additional information on how your company or organization should dispose of its e-goods waste, contact the state at 916-341-6000 or Nor-Cal at 800-543-4668.

Electronic equipment that must be recycled according to very specific regulations includes: computers, printed circuit boards, electronic components, telecommunications equipment, televisions, computer monitors, hard drives, storage devices, printers, fax machines, microscopes, manufacturing equipment, memory devices, medical equipment, servers, mainframes and much more.
Nor-Cal, one of California’s largest movers of industrial and manufacturing equipment, has considerable experience relocating plants ranging from computer factories to biotech laboratories.

Says Mazzetti, “We derive quite a bit of satisfaction knowing that much of the old hardware we collect can eventually be reused, often in faraway countries where that technology might still be in use.”

If the e-goods cannot be used, then recycling centers will strip out the components containing lead and other harmful materials and carefully dispose of it. Much of the plastic and metal can be recycled into new products.

Nor-Cal can issue to each customer a certificate indicating that the discarded e-goods it collects were delivered to a California-licensed recycling center. That protects the firm from any legal liability associated with the equipments’ disposal.