Moving without waste
The day of the move is usually chaotic, you need to be in 5 places at once, shouting orders as to what goes where. There are, however, ways to reduce the stress, make the move more efficient and, more importantly, make it without much waste. Follow along to get the scoop:
1. Make the most out of your pile of unwanted items.
As you pack away things, you find that some items you no longer love or are no longer functional and so the “leave behind” pile is created. Although it is easy to just toss it in the trash, consider either donating it or distributing to proper recycling facilities. Some companies will even pick up your unwanted stuff,
such as electronics and clothing.
2. Go for cardboard boxes or rent plastic storage bins.
Cardboard is an easily recyclable material and so is our first choice. However, try to find it for free, instead of buying. Ask friends, family, retail stores for some boxes they do not use and you will be surprised how much you will end up with. If you absolutely cannot find any or are not willing to do the hunt, there are also plastic moving boxes you can rent. At least, this plastic will be reused over and over and will not contribute to clutter.
3. Plan to have time to use paper tape.
Plastic packing tape is not biodegradable nor recyclable. If you have some patience at hand, use it to purchase and use paper tape. Paper tape is just as strong but requires water to activate the adhesive and so can take some time to assemble. The good thing about it is that you won’t need to remove it prior to recycling cardboard boxes.
4. Use clothes to pack fragile items and fill empty spaces.
Your clothes are a superb replacement for packing material. Wrap glasses and fragile items in your towels, sweaters, linens. Stuff your socks inside glasses. Use blankets to cushion mirrors. Next thing you know, there are not many clothes to pack!
5. Get a large enough truck to do one trip.
Get a good estimate as to how much space you need to move everything without making extra trips. Extra trips means extra carbon emissions and we don’t want to be that extra.