Steve Moran Real Estate

Moving to a new home is stressful at the best of times but try and spare a thought for the planet and make your move as green as you can.

While most of us are now making sustainable choices in many areas of our lives, moving house can involve a great deal of waste. So how do we keep the whole operation more environmentally friendly?

Here are some tips for environmentally responsible and economic packaging:

Try to buy or borrow used cardboard boxes and return them or sell them back when you’re done.

• Start collecting packing materials to reuse well in advance of the move.
• Recycle cardboard boxes, corrugated paper, bubble-wrap and packing peanuts.
• Wrap delicate items in clothes, towels, face-cloths, old sheets and tea-towels. Fill the corners of boxes with soft toys and rolls of thick socks.
• Pack small fragile items in egg-boxes.
• Crumpled-up newspaper may leak a little ink, but it’s free and effective.

Use green bags for non-fragile items; they’re light and easy to pack and carry.