Recycla and her family will be moving soon, which means that Recycla has been packing boxes for what feels like years, but has actually only been a couple of months. As she has been packing, she has been thinking about how she could prepare for her move in the most Earth-friendly way possible.
Here’s her list:
SORTING – Recycla hates it when she passes a house where the owners have dumped a lot of useful things on the curb to be hauled away with the trash, especially since most of that stuff could have been donated or recycled. As Recycla has been sorting through her family’s possessions, she has been tempted to pull a dumpster in front of her house and start tossing stuff in willy nilly. Yes, it would be so much easier to just put things in the trash can. But she has tried to resist that urge and instead has sought ways to keep things out of the landfill. Books have been donated to the local library for the annual book sale. Some flower pots were given away through Freecycle. Furniture has been passed on to a family member. Only when something has been truly un-recyclable — for example, her younger daughter’s used band-aid collection — has Recycla resorted to pulling out a big black garbage bag.
BOXES – Recycla has been saving boxes whenever possible. When those ran out, she went to Freecycle and asked for more — she got boxes from a local vineyard and also from a family who had just moved. Getting those boxes ensured that they stayed in play for a while longer and were not recycled or sent to a landfill. When Recycla has gotten through her move and finished unpacking, she plans to post the boxes on Freecycle for someone else who is moving.
OTHER CONTAINERS — Recycla has used other containers for her move. She has filled some plastic storage bins, laundry baskets, and even tote bags. When it comes time to empty dressers and closets, she’ll use her family’s luggage for all that stuff. Whenever she finds something that might be useful for packing, she fills it and stacks it with the dozens of boxes she’s filled already.
PACKING MATERIAL — Refusing to buy bubble wrap for just this one move, Recycla has instead looked elsewhere for materials to pad her dishes and other fragile stuff. Recycla knows that newspaper is an option, but she does not like the way newspaper leaves black smudges all over everything, so she doesn’t use it. Instead, she did reuse some bubble wrap that she already had. After that, she started using old towels and rags to pad her boxes. Recycla’s younger daugher makes a lot of art every day and, when done with her creations, just throws the sheets of paper on the floor, so Recycla has been using elementary school art as padding too. As Recycla unpacks, she’ll carefully save the bubble wrap and paper and will pass it on to someone else who needs it for a move.
TAPE — The fact is, packing tape is a necessary evil — those boxes need to be securely taped on the bottom. Recycla has been using it on the bottoms of her boxes, but not on the tops, preferring instead to fold the flaps in on themselves to keep them closed. That worked until one of her daughters started opening boxes in an attempt to find a certain book. At that point, Recycla started using small pieces of tape to keep her daughters’ boxes shut (and then stacked other boxes on top for good measure). Still, Recycla is trying to be careful with her use of packing tape.
So that’s how Recycla is trying make her move have less of an impact on Planet Earth. Does anyone else have any other ideas?
I packed smaller kitchen things into bigger things, like Tupperware containers.
We packed not-too-fragile glass serving pieces in beach towels. Shoes went into duffle bags.
We donated so many things to the church thrift shop, had a yard sale and put some things for sale on Craigslist.
Our washer and dryer were sold for $100 each to a man who had a wife dying of cancer. They were caring for her at home and doing multiple loads of laundry every day. His were on their last legs and he was so grateful to find our listing.
If you’re not moving far (say, across town) don’t even bother with the luggage for your clothes. Take the drawers out of your dresser, stack ‘em up in the car/truck and just put them back in when you get to the new place.
You can also hang a rod across the back seat using the coat hooks and move all your “hung up stuff” (as my hubby calls it) without packing it.
What an eco-mover! I also used boxes from other sources like the grocery store and my husband’s office. I packed all my dishes in towels & clothes, using a little newspaper when necessary. Tape is essential, unfortunately, but praise God for the thrift shop who comes to get stuff from your house and for passing on the boxes to the next person on the move!
I wrapped the breakables in clothing… t-shirts, towels, scarves, etc. (This worked perfectly for me, since I was too cheap to buy bubble wrap and too lazy to pack all those clothes!)
Also, Freecycle ROCKS.