At some point in each of our lives, we find ourselves needing to move from one place to another. Whether it’s a long or short-distance move, here are some tips to help you be more sustainable through the process.
- Take an honest inventory of what you do and do not want to move. Do you have old electronics that could be recycled or repurposed? Old clothes that could be donated to Good Will?
- For fragile items, use corn based, non-Styrofoam packing peanuts that biodegrade and won’t pollute ground water. There are several sources for these, such as Uline, U-Haul and PackingPrice.com.
- Rather than buy new shipping boxes, go to your local market and ask to repurpose them for your move. Or, if hiring movers, work with those that provide rentable, re-usable plastic storage bins such as Go Green Moving Company. As a plus, these plus several other movers employ biodiesel trucks!
- Choose a moving company such as Green Gorilla Movers, which not only uses biodegradable cellulose tape made from pure plant pulp, but with every move, is also committed to planting a tree with The Nature Conservancy’s Plant a Billion campaign. Beyond that, they donate a percentage of their earnings to the Gorilla Organization, which funds projects to eliminate threats such as deforestation and poaching.
- Clean and outfit your new home with products such as those found at Ecowise, including air purifiers, flooring and countertops, cotton bedding, zero VOC paint, composting toilets, and more!
- Once established, switch out your incandescent bulbs with compact fluorescent lamps (CFL’s), which use one-fifth to one-third the electric power, and last eight to fifteen times longer than standard bulbs. They can be found at many places, including Home Depot.
- Decide where to set up the recycling/composting areas in your kitchen.
- Finally, register with the Mail Preference Service of the Direct Marketing Association to put a stop to junk mail.
Minimize your carbon footprint while making a difference. Go sustainable!