Eco-Friendly Ways to Use Packing Boxes, Post Move

Unless you are a starving college student with a mountain of debt, you’re probably too old to be scrounging around looking for boxes so you can effectively move from where you’re living now to your new home. This means, the days driving behind grocery stores in search of sturdy boxes that held produce (as well as residual detritus left behind) are over. You’re an adult. Make a move like one. You’re not relying on a couple of friends who own trucks right? Handle this professionally –the first, best and easiest way to do so is to find a company that sells high-quality moving boxes.

Before you balk at buying boxes, know this: if you purchase from a proven company, you will be using only boxes truly designed for moves of household items, not for quick transitions between supplier and retailer. You don’t need a series of unmatched boxes that once held canned soup or tuna or sardines, boxes that are of vastly different sizes and pack together precariously.

Actual moving boxes are the safest way to pack and store items. The boxes – all sold and designed by the same business – will fit together nicely, in a storage facility, the moving van you’ve hired or the shipping container. The boxes will be easy to store, sturdy, and easy to label. You don’t have time to guess what’s in what box. It’s time to find the company with which you’ll find boxes of varying sizes, like The Moving Box Company. Feel free to secure your order here.        

And you can still scrimp and brag about being cost-efficient. There are companies like Australia’s The Moving Box Company which offer high-quality, but very affordable boxes. Some of the sizes of boxes they offer, for example:

  • Small Packing Boxes (for books, wine, etc.)
  • Medium Packing Boxes (for kitchen items, linens, crockery, DVDs, glassware, office supplies, toys and more)
  • Large Tea Chest Moving Boxes (strong, recycled C-flute board grade in Australia and sold brand new; designed for bulkier and lighter items – bed and bathroom linens, clothes, cushions, toys, pots, pans)
  • Heavy Duty Tea Chest Moving Boxes (double-wall boxes)
  • Mini Portable Wardrobe Removal Boxes (heavy duty, for shorter clothes)
  • Portable Wardrobe Removal Boxes (for longer hanging clothes)
  • Premium Archive Boxes (one-piece bottom box, separate covered top)
  • Mirror Moving Boxes (clearly labelled as fragile; for pictures, paintings, canvases, table tops, mirrors)

There are a number of various packages offered by The Moving Box Company, in which you can opt for packaging supplies in bulk, depending on the kind of items you’ll be packing and how many of each you’ll need.  Check the details here for more information buying boxes in bulk. Buying in bulk allows, of course, for further discounts.

Boxes IRL (In Real Life)

So, you’ve packed, you’ve stored, you’ve moved, you’ve unpacked. Now, what do you do with these recycled high-quality boxes?

If you have the storage in your new home, break down the boxes that breakdown and keep them. You never know when you’ll be able to use them, whether it’s a full house move or a move of a teen to university or boarding school.

You could take them to a recycling facility where they can be recycled again.

But there may be others who can use them. If you are on social media, considering a “pay-it-forward” kind of move and offer them to your family, friends, and/or subscribers. If you are short on coin, you may consider reselling them, at a reduced rate from what you paid (after all the boxes have already been used).

Then again, there are places that could use them. Consider, for example:

Homeless shelters: many people donate clothing and accessories but often do so in giant plastic bags. The shelter is likely going to want the clothing folded and organized. Their volunteers can make quick work of your most excellent boxes, folding clothing, and using different boxes for different sizes, so when someone comes in for a meal, a shower, an overnight or some clothes, all they have to do is go to the designated, appropriate box.

You could also offer them to local schools, which often store seasonal lessons and décor. Pre-school or elementary schools may want to use them for craft or play projects, too.

Image by jamrichar via Flickr