Moving Home in an Eco-Friendly Way
Updated on: 03/11/2021
An Overview
Moving home can be stressful. Your house can become cramped with boxes, bubble wrap and clutter. It can be hard to focus on anything other than moving but it’s important not to forget our beautiful planet. We’ve put together some tips on how to make your move as eco-friendly as possible. If we all take these steps we can help reduce CO2 emissions throughout the world.
- Reduce Your Waste
The first step is to reduce your waste. In the weeks running up to the move start using up all of the dried goods in your cupboards such as pasta, soups and sauces. There are lots of recipes online that use dried goods only so be experimental and get creative. Anything you can’t finish you will need to pack away to take to the new house which can be messy and a waste of a cardboard box. Alternatively, you can take these products to the local food bank which will ensure that they go to people who truly need it. Another way to reduce your waste is to ensure that every last piece of bubble wrap is utilised. If not, it can be recycled but you will need to head to your local supermarket where you will find a specific collection point.
- Donate
Our second top tip in order to be more environmentally friendly is to donate anything you don’t want to have in your new home. The best way to do this is to clean each space, room by room, and organise everything in to three piles: keep, recycle, and donate. The saying is so true, “one man’s trash is another man’s treasure,” so make sure you’re being ruthless when deciding what to keep or donate. Old clothes, shoes, books and toys can be donated to a local charity shop. This will ensure that we are overcoming the issue of waste whilst helping an important cause as the funds raised from your old stuff will be used by the charity.
- Be Resourceful
Our next tip is to be resourceful and there’s a few ways you can do this. When you’re packing your belongings use old newspapers to wrap up any fragile items such as artwork, mirrors and ornaments. The newspaper will protect your belongings and you can start stocking up on them for a few weeks before your move, they can then be recycled after use. Another way of being resourceful is to box everything up neatly. If you chuck everything in the box you’ll be less likely to fit as many things in. This will result in using even more boxes which is wasteful and ultimately harmful to the environment. Our teams of highly experienced packers are excellent at utilising space and know exactly how to pack things in the most economically space saving way. Finally, your removals firm should provide cardboard boxes but if you have any old plastic, storage containers or old boxes lying around, use them first. Most removals companies will use recycled boxes and take away your used boxes for recycling after your move.
- Eco-Friendly Cleaning
Our next step is to use eco-friendly cleaning products. Moving house can get very messy very quickly, from dust flying around to people walking around in their muddy shoes, so you need to keep on top of the cleaning. You can make cleaning cloths out of old clothes and fabric which is another great way of reducing your waste. There are also plenty of eco-friendly cleaning products on the market such as Ecover which have a great range of multi-surface cleaners that don’t use harmful ingredients.
- Choose the Right Removals Company
At Clockwork Removals we have specific goals and policies to ensure that we minimize our environmental impact wherever possible. This includes recycling, using recycled packing materials, as well as partnering with eco-friendly organisations for our upcycling and disposal services. We have a stringent fleet replacement plan making sure our fleet is fully compliant with the UK’s Ultra Low Emission Zones (ULEZ) and conduct continual driver training to ensure responsible driving and fuel efficiency. To further minimise our environmental impact we work alongside Carbon Footprint, taking part in their UK tree planting initiative in which we plant a tree for every container we ship throughout the world.
If you’re looking to move home with an environmentally conscious removals team give us a call today for your free quotation on 0800 195 8671.
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