Moving to a new place can be hard on you and hard on the environment. There is a lot more to packing than throwing things in box and calling it a day. Moving can create an unnecessary amount of waste. There are precautions and preparations you can make to reduce your impact on the environment. While your impact alone is not significant if everyone were to be more cautious when it comes to the environment, the change would be monumental. Below are some helpful hints to make your move more eco friendly.
Packing Materials
Consider what you’re moving and what kind of materials you’ll need to pack these items up. You can purchase eco-friendly boxes and packing paper made from recyclable materials, or even better, see if you can get boxes from work, or someone else who has moved recently that no longer needs them. Not only will this cut back on paper waste, but it will also save you money. Also, try to avoid using excessive plastic; this could be plastic shrink wrap for wrapping furniture, bubble wrap, or plastic bags. Look for alternatives for wrapping your things like moving blankets, towels, clothing, newspaper etc. Even packaging peanuts which are commonly used in packing are very harmful to the environment. Old Newspaper scrunched up will work just as well as packing peanuts and is free! Another offender is packaging tape which is known to be harmful to the environment. Instead to seal your boxes, try reinforced paper tape. It’s a very resilient option that works just as well as packaging tape and is not very expensive.
Donate
While you’re packing, you might feel the urge to toss things that you don’t want to bring with you. Instead of throwing them in the trash, make an effort to sort everything and donate what is still usable. What might seem like a discarded piece or furniture or old clothing, might be beneficial to someone else. Some donation centres even have a local pickup service that will pick up items like old appliances, clothes, and furniture. Not to mention you can even request a tax receipt which you can use on your future tax return to bring down your taxable income. It’s a win-win situation for everyone involved.
Preparing for a move is stressful, but taking additional steps and precautions to protect the environment will benefit everyone in the long run. It may seem like a small measure to use quality recycled boxes, or skip out on the roll of shrink wrap, but the impact is huge. By reducing our waste, we’re investing in the future of our planet for our children and their children.
