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Eco-friendly moving materials: Your guide to a more sustainable move
Moving isn't just burdensome, it can have a real impact on the planet. Fortunately, there are some easy ways to make your next move more eco-friendly.
Moving yourself, your family and a life’s worth of things to a new home can be pricey and impactful. Money, stress and time are all factors. However, your move's cost to the planet should be an additional concern, especially if you want to minimize the potential negative impact. Fortunately, there are simple ways to do so, including by using eco-friendly moving materials and sustainable moving supplies.
This guide to sustainable moving can help you settle into your new home and leave the lightest carbon footprint possible. By using these materials, you can reduce waste and foster a healthier planet.
Declutter your home before moving
The best way to need fewer moving materials is to have fewer things to move. Walk through each room and take note of the items you haven’t used in the last few months or, if they’re seasonal, didn’t use last season. Be honest with yourself. Items that are crafts, hobbies and projects you’ve been meaning to get to but haven’t yet don’t need to take up space in your moving truck.
Plenty of other people can put unused items to good use. Higher-value goods can be sold on online marketplaces like Facebook or eBay, or you can give them as gifts to friends and family. Anything left could go to the nearest donation center or thrift store. Many libraries, schools, nursing homes and animal shelters will happily take relevant things off your hands.
Before you throw away an item, consider saving it for our next step: upcycling.
Upcycle clothing and other materials
After sorting your home room by room, you’ll likely find plenty to sell or give away. There’s an even better chance you’ll find clothes, fabric or material that’s beyond saving and needs to be tossed.
However, even if they can’t be worn or used as intended, shirts, towels, sheets, old boxes or even tote bags can help fill space and protect fragile goods. The most sustainable and eco-friendly materials are the ones you already have. Repurposing goods one last time (or more) before they’re recycled is the best way to give them a green send-off.
You can even take this idea to another level and pack away your regular wardrobe by using it as a safety blanket for your dishes and glassware. Once the move is over, all your garments can be washed and worn again.
Packing tips for moving
Before your move, you’ll probably start collecting free cardboard boxes for moving. The best boxes to use are the ones you’re already receiving via deliveries. If you order stuff online, set aside those cardboard boxes before you discard or recycle them.
Search Craigslist or check with your local restaurants — there are always people looking to offload their extra cardboard for free. You can also look up local “Buy Nothing” groups on Facebook where neighborhood residents list items for free. Every box you can find is one less you have to pay for, and usually one or two afternoons’ hunting is enough to cover an entire move.
Cardboard isn’t the only medium you have to work with. Tote bags, suitcases, gym bags and backpacks are all options; if it can zip, clasp, close or cinch, there’s no reason not to use it.
Decluttering, upcycling and packing smart are the essential tenets of environmental sustainability. Remember: Reduce, reuse, recycle. Sustainable moving means minimizing what you bring, using what is available and already on hand, and ensuring any single-use items can be safely recycled.
Sustainable moving supplies
Maybe you’re short on socks to stuff inside glassware or tea towels to wrap up your dishes. Facebook could be light on free options, and spare boxes might not be available at local grocery or liquor stores.
The most sustainable option is to rent and return boxes. Across the United States, a plethora of different companies offer crates they drop off at your current home and then pick up from your new place when you’re done with them.
One advantage of rented bins over random free cardboard boxes is their uniformity. There’s no guarantee all cardboard boxes you find will be the same shape, size and quality. When planning how much space you’ll need for a moving truck, you’ll know the exact square footage of space required for rented containers so you can plan accordingly.
No shortage of options exists to rent boxes, but these are some of the best moving box and tote companies in a smattering of major U.S. cities, along with pricing. For reference, these packages include similarly sized boxes of approximately 3 cubic feet.
NYC and New Jersey: Bin-It - 40 boxes, available for two weeks for $159
NYC: Gorilla Bins - 40 boxes, available for two weeks for $185
San Diego: ZippGo - 40 boxes, available for one week for $199 plus an additional $50 per extra week
Boise, Idaho, and Canada: Frogbox - 40 boxes, available for one week for $184
Chicago: Redi-Box - 30 boxes, available for two weeks for $169 plus an additional $25 per extra week
Seattle: HiveBoxx - 40 boxes, available for one week for $199 plus an additional $40 per extra week
When it comes to keeping your goods safe, a whole industry of biodegradable, compostable and recyclable materials exists to help you avoid using plastic bubble wrap and packing peanuts.
When upcycled or repurposed clothes don’t cut it, consider an eco-friendly alternative to Bubble Wrap, such as Bubble Paper. Read our full list of sustainable Bubble Wrap alternatives for more options.
It's a bit pricey, but this bubble paper has all the popping potential of traditional Bubble Wrap in an eco-friendly package.
Consider paper-based packing tape, especially if you use cardboard boxes. A roll of heavy-duty kraft paper packing tape costs $9.99 on Amazon. Unlike its plastic cousin, this tape is made from recycled paper that can be recycled again once you’re done.
ecotru Ultra Strong Paper Packing Tape
Eco-friendly moving companies
You trimmed down your belongings with a deep declutter and bundled your mugs with hand towels. You even packed up everything in sustainable rented plastic totes. The remaining challenge is finding a company to transport all your stuff to your new residence. Here are some key factors to consider when evaluating your options:
Do they use electric or biodiesel fuel trucks?
Are battery-powered curbside lifts available?
Do they have charity partnerships for any excess clothes or goods you want to give away?
Do they utilize sustainable moving supplies such as reusable bubble wrap and bins?
Look for lists of their green initiatives on moving company websites and confirm with the sales representatives you speak with that all the features promised online are available. In addition, when you sign an agreement with a moving company, it’s a legal contract. Don’t be afraid to advocate for yourself if a firm makes environmental promises but later reneges on what was agreed upon.
One green moving company in New York City, Shleppers, highlights its use of industrial-strength rubber bands, instead of single-use tape, for wrapping blankets around furniture. This is just one example of a company using sustainable practices, but it can be telling if companies even mention sustainability or ignore the concept.
Do you need to follow all these steps to be sustainable?
An eco-friendly move is a commitment. It can be difficult to find the extra energy and cash it takes to consider the planet on top of the stress of moving house.
A sustainable move doesn’t have to be perfect. The goal of green initiatives is always to reduce the harm to the planet, so even taking just one of these steps means your next move is a greener one. The most important thing is that your moving decisions result in eco-improvements that wouldn’t have occurred without environmental consciousness.
