How to achieve an eco-friendly move?

Every year on July 1st, after they moved out, Montrealers leave behind them more than 60.000 tons of household waste. Those numbers are really concerning, and it is something that can be avoided quite easily, by adopting an eco-friendlier behaviour. You want to know how you can achieve it? Here are a few ways to make your move greener!

Go for an ecological packaging

Instead of buying cardboard boxes, why don’t you take a lot at what you already have first?

Gather your used boxes and reinforce them if needed.
You can also get some boxes from some companies’ storage areas. They usually don’t
know what to do with the massive number of boxes they have and would gladly give some to you!
Get some reusable plastic containers, as well as craft paper and recyclable tape.
Use your sheets to wrap up your most fragile objects.

By doing that, not only will it help the environment, but it would also help you save some money!

Find an eco-friendly way to carry your goods

If your new home is located near your former place, you can easily think of an alternative way to move your belongings, rather than renting a truck!

Ask your relatives for help, especially to carry your lightest belongings.
Consider hiring urban movers, who can usually transport some of your objects by bike.

If you really don’t have any other choice but to rent a truck, try to go for a big model, in order to restrict the number of round trips during the day!

Sort your possessions out!

Moving out is the perfect occasion for you to make a choice regarding what you’re going to keep and what you can give away. By selecting the objects you’re not using anymore, and getting rid of them, you will therefore considerably limit the number of belongings that you will have to move to your new place. This means fewer expenses in truck rental, but most importantly less gas emission! In order to do this properly, you have a few options:

Organize a garage sale.
Give your goods to organizations for charity (you can also go through Facebook groups dedicated to this kind of donation).

Whatever your choice is, this will help you reduce your household waste during your move. And there’s another great advantage: by reducing your possessions, you will therefore reduce the cost of your home insurance, who said you could not save some money on your move?

Once you moved, keep nailing that eco-friendly attitude!

Your move does not end up right after you cross the doorstep of your new home. Once you’re fully settled, you will probably feel the need to do some renovations, or at least to decorate the place a bit, in order to make it more comfortable and personal. Which is why you should keep good habits while you start making these kinds of plans!

If possible, try buying non-toxic and biodegradable cleaning products. Nowadays, it has become easy to find cleaners that are entirely natural and yet truly efficient!
If you want to paint your walls, you can go for environmental paint, that is usually recycled or natural, and that is as effective as regular industrial paint!
During a big cleaning day, or during your painting sessions, try reducing your paper consumption, by using old newspapers to clean your windows and to protect your floor!

We hope that our advice helped or will help you make your move greener and we hope everything will go well! Also, make sure you make your address change for all your service providers while you’re still in the process of moving in. There are a lot of institutions and service companies that need to be informed of your new location quickly. In order to get this done, you can make your address changes online, and avoid wasting paper by mailing your providers!