Reduce Your Impact: Tips For an Eco-friendly Move
People move all the time for jobs, school, to a bigger home, or to be closer to family – with that comes a lot of waste. In fact, 40 million households move annually in the United States which produces around 290 million tons of waste each year. The question on Mini Mall Storage’s mind is how to make moving more sustainable?
We have compiled a list of some of the best tips and tricks to make your move a little greener! We know it’s extremely hard to make your move zero-waste (because let’s be real, that just won’t happen), but we can make conscious efforts to reduce how much we use and come up with better ideas to go green.
Pack Like a Pro
Packing away your belongings doesn’t have to be in a brown bow that you will only use once, you can get creative and use what you already have to reduce your environmental impact while moving. You likely have these items already in your home and at some point, we’re sure you’ve just packed them away like the rest of us. Here are some household items you can use instead of traditional moving boxes:
- Suitcases
- Backpacks
- Tote bags
- Trunks
Use these items to pack away toys, clothes, electronics, documents, and anything else you think could safely go in there. Packing doesn’t have to be pretty!
The Perfect Plan
Planning is key when it comes to reducing your waste and achieving the eco-friendly move you are after! Thanks to the rise of Amazon and other convenient home delivery sources, boxes shouldn’t be hard to come by and knowing when you’re moving can help you determine when to start collecting boxes. One of the best ways to reduce your environmental impact during a move is to save those boxes and repurpose them.
Going out and buying boxes contributes to de-forestation and pollution, by reusing carboard boxes from your grocery delivery, amazon orders, or even asking local pubs and stores if they have extra is a fantastic way to slow down the production of boxes and reuse what is already out there.
Eco-friendly Moving Supplies
Let’s talk tape and other standard packing supplies we use. You’re going to need tape for your boxes and that’s just a fact, no shame here! There are however some great alternatives to typical packing supplies that are environmentally friendly and are fantastic green alternatives.
You can of course also utilize some items you already have in your home:
- Use blankets, cloths, hand towels, and towels to provide protection for your breakable and antique items
- Save old newspapers and cut them up to create your own packing peanuts
- Consider using tee shirts and clothes to provide a protective layer around your plates.
- Rolled up socks make for the perfect filler when you have delicate items that need to be held in place or need additional support to not move around.
Cut Your Carbon Emissions
This one is tricky because you cannot avoid needing a vehicle to get your items to your new home. Being environmentally conscious is never a perfect streamlined process, it is all about trying your best. When it comes to those pesky emissions try to make one trip, this means getting a moving truck big enough for all your items in one go. You can also utilize your own vehicles and plan out who will take what to avoid multiple trips. Don’t leave any vehicle idling while you’re unloading to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
Why Self Storage?
Well, that’s simple! Self storage in many ways can reduce the environmental impact of a move. Whether life takes you on your next great adventure and you need to store your belongings while away or have made some changes to your life and don’t have the space for that huge dining room table anymore. Storage prevents waste and the production of goods when you don’t have to repurchase items you already have. Storage units often use minimal energy apart from climate controlled storage units.
When life takes you down a different path or your living arrangements have changed, self storage is a low emission solution to your needs.
Find a storage unit near you!