Relocation Remedies

Studies have consistently shown that moving is among the most stressful life events, even when it’s for a great reason, like a new job at Johns Manville.

What’s more, moving is hard on the planet, with trucks and cars burning fuel and the paring-down of items to be transported ahead of relocation directing tons of unwanted items to landfills.

"That’s why Johns Manville partners with companies that keep as close an eye on their environmental impacts as they do on their customers’ belongings, when relocating employees join Johns Manville or take on new roles in the company,” said Barb Farley, mobility specialist.

Relocation Remedies is a donate and discard company that helps remove items from employee’s homes that will not be needed at their new destination. These are typically items that have limited use at their new destination, items the employees don’t know what to do with, or that could simply benefit their local community.

Useful items are donated to charity on the employees’ behalf. Items that are donated to charity may be eligible for a charitable tax deduction. Goods unable to be donated are taken to the appropriate waste removal site.

“It’s a win-win-win,” Farley said. “We pay to move fewer pounds, the employee gets rid of the stuff they don’t want and it’s good for the environment.”

Johns Manville pays a per-pound cost for that donate and discard service, but the price is well worth it, Farley noted.

“We pay the donate and discard company less than we would have paid the moving company to move the unwanted items,” she said.

Since 2021, Johns Manville has saved more than $27,000 and prevented more than 26,000 pounds of household goods from being unnecessarily moved or thrown away. Further, the program has saved hundreds of gallons of gasoline and thousands of pounds of paper and cardboard.

And that’s not all.

The moving company that Johns Manville hires employs a service that works to prevent food waste, Farley said.

Move for Hunger is a nonprofit organization that works with the relocation industry, transporting movers’ unwanted, non-perishable food items to area food banks.

In 2022, Move for Hunger helped deliver more than 5.4 million pounds of food to banks across the U.S. and Canada.

“While Johns Manville doesn’t relocate a huge number of employees each year, it makes me feel good that the vendors we work with are making a positive impact on the environment, as well as helping with the hunger problem,” Farley said.