You may be disgruntled and stressed at the thought of moving. Perhaps you're excited to move into a new house or different city, but ultimately the process of packing and moving can make you petulant and anxious. Well, how do you think the environment feels? With every move, boxes and packing paper are used in excess and trashed at the curb. Old possessions and clutter that can be recycled and reused are carelessly thrown into dumpsters. A single move can drain resources and create a significant amount of extra waste.
Follow these seven ways to have an eco-friendly move and green relocation:
- Visit USPS.com to change your address and inform friends and family of your new address, preferably digitally, as soon as possible. This ensures that mail is sent to the right location, and deters the extra steps of forwarding mail. Making sure that your address is updated also prevents businesses that may not have address verification from QAS from unnecessarily sending mail to wrong addresses. Sending mail to wrong addresses and forwarding mail just requires additional energy and paper resources that can be easily avoided.
- File a temporary address with the U.S. Postal Service as opposed to a permanent change of address. According to Care2.com, you'll receive less junk mail because USPS sells permanent address lists — but not temporary address lists — to direct marketers.
- Utilize suitcases, pillow cases, duffel bags and gear that you can use for packing. Those items have to move anyway so you might as well pack 'em full.
- Ask friends, family and co-workers for used packing materials such as bubble wrap and cardboard boxes that you can take. Grocery, retail, liquor and hardware stores are also good resources for boxes. Rather than drive all over town, call ahead and ask about what they can provide. After you've moved and unpacked, rather than dispose of boxes curbside, sell them online through BoxCycle.com, U-Haul message boards or Craigslist.
- Rent moving equipment and plastic crates from Rentacrate, which is a company dedicated to eco-friendly alternatives and "secure and sustainable business recycling services." The reusable plastic moving crates are delivered and picked-up. Not only are crates part of an eco-friendly service, they're secure and durable. Frogbox.com and RentAGreenBox.com also offer reusable boxes as a cardboard box alternative for green moves.
- Reduce the amount of items that you move by eliminating extra clutter and giving possessions away to friends and family. Sell items on sites such as eBay.com and FreeCycle.org. Donating furniture and non-essential possessions to Goodwill also rids you of additional things to pack and move. So you're not only helping the environment by downsizing, but you're being charitable as well.
- Clean your old apartment or new house with green cleaners and rags instead of paper towels. You can find green cleaning supplies at Wal-Mart, Sam's Club, Target, Trader Joe's and Sprouts. GreenAmerica.org recommends more natural products for cleaning such as white vinegar for killing germs and bacteria, baking soda for eliminating odors and fresh club soda or lemon juice for removing stains.