ecofriend.org

Moving House? How to Put Less Strain on Yourself & the Planet

Moving house can be bad for the environment in many ways. From unwanted household items ending up in landfill to excessive transport energy being consumed, the stressful event of moving house thus puts a lot of stress on the planet. Thankfully, more companies than ever are focusing on eco-friendly removals and now, it’s easier to minimize environmental impact when moving.

Here are four tips to help your moving process and keep it as green as possible.

Prepare and repurpose your packing materials

Reduce your carbon footprint

Packaging can be one of the most environmentally harmful parts of moving, making up an estimated 17% of our carbon footprint and cutting down millions of trees to make cardboard. One way to ensure the environmental impact of your packing materials remains minimal is to prepare it first. Sourcing recycled boxes or reusing old ones is the best way to stay green. This is amplified if you find another use for your packaging afterwards.

The moving specialists AnyVan have looked into this themselves, recently launching its box forts initiative that aims to make removals fun and easy. Their drivers are now using cardboard boxes that double up as miniature castles for children to play in. This means there is less need for recycling, and waste.

You can also simply reuse packaging the way it was originally intended by using it for storage. That way, when you come to move again, you will already have all the packaging you need left over from last time.

Declutter in advance

moving-house-1

Eco-blogger Rebecca Foster was horrified at how much waste she generated when she moved house. Here is an individual who boasts of recycling more than she throws away, and yet she confesses that when she moved house, plenty of her unnecessary possessions ended up in landfill.

Clearly, even those most dedicated to green living can make waste when they move. This is especially true for those moving to a smaller home. If you don’t have enough space for everything at your current place, you should consider downsizing through a house clearance prior to the move.

You could go full KonMari method, following the lessons of infamous minimalist Marie Kondo, who advises a brutal purge of anything that doesn’t “spark joy.” Or you could try any of these simpler solutions for a cluttered home.

However you go about doing it, clear out before you move out. It’ll save you stress, and it’ll help the planet. 

Use eco-friendly products

moving-house-2

The most important tip of all is to plan ahead. If you do not start the moving process well in advance of your move date, you’ll find the experience far more stressful. Furthermore, under mounting pressure to get ready on time, you could easily find the environment falling down your list of priorities.

For example, cleaning your old house before you leave is an important part of the moving process that should be tackled early on. But as any environmentalist will know already, cleaning products can be terrible for the planet. Non-biodegradable chemicals in most household cleaning sprays pollute the atmosphere, rivers and can harm animals. It’s still crucial that you clean, though, so make sure you do it in an eco-friendly way.

You could purchase specialist green cleaning products that include none of the harmful chemicals, or make some of your own from natural ingredients like essential oils and vinegar.

Article Submitted By Community Writer

Today's Top Articles:

Scroll to Top