Climate change and sustainable practices are a hot topic in the world, and rightly so! We often hear the idea that making a difference is not about one person doing everything – it’s about us all doing a few things. Moving house can be a stressful experience without having the added pressure of creating more waste weighing on us too. We’ve collated some tips on how to have a lower environmental impact when moving.
Declutter in advance
Moving house is the prime opportunity to de clutter your items (Marie Kondo has some great tips on what to get rid of and what to keep). The problem is if we leave it too late rather than disposing of items well, we end up sending them to land-fill.
We suggest de cluttering well in advance of moving house. This will give you time to explore the different ways to getting rid of your items. Remember one man’s trash is another man’s treasure. Here are some ways you could get rid of things:
- Gift to friends
- Garage sale
- Donating to one of the many local charities. You will find that for large items most are more than happy to collect the items.
- Old electronic items can be given to Southland Disability Enterprises – they will usually be happy to collect large items too.
- Listing on Trademe or Facebook marketplace.
- Before taking your load across the weigh bridge at the Invercargill Transfer Station. Call into the Garage Re-use shop and ask if they would like to take any of your items. The cheaper tip fee is a bonus too!
Use up what you have
This goes particularly for food, which is often wasted in a move. Go through your fridge and pantry and see what you have already and either give it away (if you know that the real reason it is still there is because you’re never going to use it) or get it eaten rather than throwing out.
You could even make this process do double-duty by making a point of batch-cooking to save yourself a bit of time which you can use to get on with other areas of organising your move (or anything else you need to do).
Be Conscious of the products you are using
Any move usually involves a very thorough clean – both on the house you are leaving and the one you are entering. It’s important to consider the balance between using a good quality cleaning agent and still being kind to environment. There are many cleaning options available on the market now, and many cleaning companies promote themselves on using environmentally responsible cleaning products. Using reusable cleaning cloths rather than disposable can also reduce the waste.
Limit the plastic packaging
A great way to limit the plastics is using your items you’re moving to protect your items. That could be clothing, tea towels and linen. If that doesn’t get you far enough – give us a call we may be able to provide you with some left over newspapers to use.
If you still need more and are looking at the bubble wrap option (let’s be honest we all love popping bubble wrap – particularly the kids) we would suggest using one of the many eco-friendly packaging options available now. A quick google search should point you in the right direction.
Supermarkets are often happy to provide you with boxes to use to move, this is repurposing and reusing which is always fantastic!
Happy Moving!