A Sustainable Business Matters Most

April signals the beginning of spring and reminds us of the beauty of the planet on which we live. We just celebrated Earth Day and Arbor Day, and both days remind us to renew our commitment to conservation and sustainability.

There are several ways to think about sustainability. I see it as preserving the environment, protecting your business, and giving back to the community. Of these, I come back to preserving the environment as one of my top priorities as a CEO and a community member. If we are not protecting the environment, where are we going to be in the future?

And there is so much that can be done on this front.

Sustainability is intertwined with all we do at JK. It's been in the company's fabric since we began and continues to influence our decisions today. And, as we plan for tomorrow, sustainability will continue to be a primary focus.

Building upon practices we started yesterday

As the largest independently owned professional moving, logistics and storage company in the country, it’s not surprising that the crew in our maintenance facility is constantly changing the oil in our trucks. All of the oil we drain out of our fleet then is repurposed by going into our maintenance heaters. For over 25 years, these buildings have never been heated any other way. Every drop of the oil used to heat our maintenance employees is recycled -- that's sustainability.

What we’re doing today

JK diverts 4.5 million pounds from landfills each year with our sustainable practices. We keep a  tremendous amount of items out of our landfills and dumpsters through our re-use program. If an office building or residential customer has a sofa they don't want to move, we bring that sofa back and repurpose it through Goodwill or Habitat for Humanity.

I always am surprised to see, that right under our noses, there are people or families who need the property that others are ready to throw away. These people would love to have the items that would otherwise be going to the landfills.

Looking ahead, to the future

JK was among the first businesses to place an order for the Tesla Semi. I find the Tesla vehicles to be very impressive as the technology is fantastic. The possibility of what these vehicles can do for the environment is promising. Electric semis will be a welcome change to the whole trucking industry.

We are expecting to see the Tesla local units before the end of the year. These local trucks will go out throughout the day, then return to home base and charge overnight. We are excited to try them. If you look at where electric vehicles started and where they are today, imagine where we'll be in 5 to 10 years for now.

Today, sustainability is taught in schools and colleges. The workforce wants to see evidence of sustainability in an organization. Young professionals, who will be the industry’s lifeblood as we build for tomorrow, need to see that they're getting into an industry that cares about sustainability and the environment. They want to know an organization will provide a future, compensation, and benefits that take care long-term and invest in technology. I know this for a fact; we hear it from applicants who mention and reference it. That's why sustainability has and will always be important to JK and CapRelo. It is a part of our culture, our recruitment, our retention.

Note: I joined Ben Cross of Love & Relo to discuss sustainability, hosted by IAM Young Professionals. In the hour-long conversation, we spoke about the importance of creating a sustainable industry in professional moving and relocation. You can watch the replay on LinkedIn. https://www.dhirubhai.net/video/live/urn:li:ugcPost:6784853281312186368