Are you “Green”?

The week of April 22^nd is Earth Week across many countries of the world. Earth Day, which is celebrated every April 22^nd, was created in 1970 by Senator Gaylord Nelson to promote the ideas of ecology, encouraging respect for life on earth and highlighting concern over pollution of the soil, air and water. Earth Day has become a day to celebrate the Earth’s environment and learn how to protect it. Baltimore has a whole week dedicated to being “green”.

The 10^th Annual Baltimore Green Week kicked off events on April 22^nd and runs through April 27^th. Over 5,000 people attend the different lectures, workshops, tours, film screenings and more at events during the week. The festivities end with the Ecofest celebration on Saturday, April 27^th at Druid Hill Park. This family friendly event has musicians, vendors and over 100 exhibitors that promote environmental awareness and best sustainable practices. Spend the afternoon taking free yoga classes, bike rides, attending workshops or play in the kid’s nature play areas.

The self storage industry has also become more of a “green” industry in the past few years. Many self storage operators are building facilities that are sustainable and help to protect the environment by having flat roofs installed with solar energy panels or just updating the facility with energy-efficient lighting. The last two new ezStorage fully support this initiative as will future locations. The Elkridge and Charles Village locations were both designated as LEED certified buildings. This certification means that the facilities have passed a rigorous certification test on being more environmentally friendly including using highly reflective roof membranes to help save energy costs, using LED energy-efficient lighting in the facilities, having native plants in the landscaping of the buildings, recycling tons of building material during the building process instead of sending it to a landfill and having the buildings be water, waste and energy-efficient.

How can you be “green” and do your part to save the environment when you are storing at a self storage facility? Make sure to use boxes that are made out of recyclable materials. Recycle your boxes after using them. Instead of using bubble wrap to wrap items in a box, use cloths or clothing for packing material. Also try to use recyclable paper when you are wrapping items. And don’t  just throw away the items in your storage unit if you don’t need them. If they are in good condition, consider donating or selling the items. Any little bit of recycling can help with the environment. ezStorage is proud to be a part of the green movement in the self storage industry! We are looking forward to making more of our self storage facilities eco-friendly.