When people are thinking about moving home, usually the last thing they are thinking of are the impacts on the environment.
There are so many rooms to clear, so much stuff you thought you needed but realise when you now have to lug it from one house to another, you don’t actually need it.
However, moving home doesn’t mean you have to dump all your plastic into the sea or burn tyres outside your house. You can actually put some thought into moving home in an ecologically friendly way, helping other people and the environment.
That's where these eco friendly moving tips come in. Grab a tea and let's get to it.
Eco Friendly Moving Tips
Waste management is needed….
First and foremost, 3 months before you are planned to move home you need to raid the freezer. Start using up all those items in the freezer so there’s little to no food waste. We expect your weekly food bill will go down dramatically which is another bonus as you’re about to embark on one of the most expensive times of your life.
If you have loads of un-opened store cupboard items which you are unlikely to use, take a trip to your nearest food bank and drop them off, being eco friendly can also mean being kind to other people you possibly won’t meet.
Whilst you are being a good Samaritan, donate all your unwanted clothes, CD’s, DVD’s, books etc. to local charity shops. Try and be as ruthless as you can because once you get to your new home, you’ll only need to find a place to store these undesirables which will just sit there until you move again - so get rid of them now and be a bit more cold-hearted* with decluttering.
*You are only keeping them for sentimental reasons
Make some money
You’re moving to a new home and you may be scaling down or up which means your furniture may not fit or go with your new house, so again 3 months before your moving date, get these pieces of furniture on an auction site, or social media or offer it up on any neighbourhood WhatsApp groups, it’ll be a good way to recycle your furniture and get some needed extra cash.
If you can’t sell them, there is always charity shops or friends and family that might benefit from these pieces of furniture, landfill should always be your very last resort.
WAIT! Stop this eco train for just one minute...
There is one item of moving packaging that we recommend you do not scrimp on and that’s Moving Boxes. These removal boxes are designed to keep your delicates and prized possessions safe and damage-free. Using free boxes from your supermarket simply won’t do and you’ll be in false economy-ville if one of these boxes splits open and all your kitchen plates or bowls smash all over the floor.
The good thing about removal boxes is they can be flat packed and kept until you move again, so actually, there is an eco-ending to this snippet of advice, making this one of our favourite eco friendly moving tips.
What to do with your clothes
Well that’s an easy one, if you have suitcases, fill them up with all of your clothes, the number of people that move home with empty suitcases you would be astounded by.
You can also use your clothes as void fill, wrapping your delicate porcelain, plates, cups, mugs etc so they don’t move around the box when your removals van goes over bumps or goes round corners. Just make sure you treble wrap and infill the gaps to be on the safe side.
Eco friendly products
There are lots of eco friendly products out there which can be bought on packaging websites, including bio-bubble wrap which is bubble wrap that is bio-degradable, and perfect for wrapping precious items and electronic devices.
There is also paper wrap which is recycled, eco peanuts void fill, which is basically recycled strong paper specially designed to protect your items by absorbing impact.
Talking of removals van…
Choosing the right removals van is paramount if you don’t want all of your lovely eco-friendly work you’ve done packing, recycling and donating to literally go up in diesel smoke.
Make sure your van is an EEV standard vehicle, it’s quite hard and probably very expensive to hire an electric or hydrogen removals van so use the eco-friendliest van/s you can.
Another nugget of eco friendly moving advice is to remember to declutter all your furniture, clothes, books, unwanted kitchen utensils etc. This means less weight for the removals van, which equates to less fuel needed to transport to your next house.
After the big unpack…
After you have moved in and unpacked all your worldly belongings, this is where you need to recycle; paper wrap, unwanted boxes, plastics etc. make sure you plan a trip to your local household recycle centre so next to nothing goes to landfill.
Remember, flat pack all your moving boxes and store them in a dry place ready for the next move or when you need a strong box to store stuff.
Good luck with your move!
