{"id":389604,"date":"2010-03-04T16:16:24","date_gmt":"2010-03-04T21:16:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/green.yahoo.com\/blog\/greenpicks\/271\/five-green-steps-for-moving-to-a-new-home.html"},"modified":"2010-03-04T16:16:24","modified_gmt":"2010-03-04T21:16:24","slug":"five-green-steps-for-moving-to-a-new-home","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/389604","title":{"rendered":"Five green steps for moving to a new home"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n\"people
\n
(Photo: Getty Images)<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

I recently moved out of my apartment, and as I packed my
\n10-years’ worth of belongings under the strain of a deadline to leave my old
\nplace, I discovered how easy it is for even the most eco-minded person to be
\nextremely un-green and create a lot of waste during this one very big event. <\/p>\n

So I decided to make a plan for how to do it right:<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

1. Throwing out<\/strong> <\/p>\n

The key in the moving process is time. Plan for time ahead
\nof your move to assess which belongings are going with you and what it’s time
\nto part with. Clean out closets, cabinets, and under the beds so you can review
\nand responsibly deal with your stuff.<\/p>\n

Set a personal goal to not put anything<\/em> in the trash. I always see piles of belongings next to
\nthe trash dumpsters of apartment buildings from people who moved hastily and
\njust put their unwanteds by the curb thinking the local homeless dumpster-divers
\nor junk collectors will take it. While this may be true for some items, in the
\nmeantime, it’s a major eyesore for the neighborhood and a lot of it just ends
\nup in landfills. <\/p>\n

Yes, one man’s trash is truly another’s treasure, and there
\nare plenty of resources for you to post all those impulse purchases,
\nill-thought gifts, mismatching sets of housewares, and outgrown clothes. While
\nyou may think of it as junk now, you may be surprised what people are willing
\nto take off your hands by posting it to Craigslist<\/a>, Freecycle<\/a>, or eBay<\/a>. <\/p>\n

You could even make a little money from it. Or just have a
\ngood ol’ fashion garage sale and whatever doesn’t sell, donate to charity.<\/p>\n

Don’t know what to do with your stuff? Get tips from the
\nGreen Cheapskate’s post: “When
\nyou can’t decide if it’s clutter or treasure.”<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

2. Repurposing unwanted
\nitems<\/strong><\/p>\n

Take a good look at the items you no longer want – there may
\nbe a plethora of scraps that can be repurposed into something else. Now is the
\ntime to embrace your inner Martha Stewart and get crafty. <\/p>\n

An old coat or pillowcase could be cut up and made into a
\ntote bag, those CDs of bands from the \u201880s could be a groovy set of coasters,
\nsome earrings and pendants you no longer wear might make dazzling Christmas
\ntree ornaments or wine glass charms. Sites such as Instructables<\/a> and HowStuffWorks<\/a>
\nprovide lots of ideas and how-to’s for making new items from old ones. <\/p>\n

Search
\nfor more craft websites<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Make a pile of potential craft projects and put them in a
\nbox to tackle after your move. If you don’t get around to it in six months, try
\nposting the supplies section of Etsy<\/a>
\n– other crafty people may be thrilled to use what you’ve got.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

3. Recycling<\/strong><\/p>\n

Before you do a big clean-out, get up to speed on what can
\nbe recycled through your city’s curbside program. Stacks of magazines and
\nnewspapers, piled-up junk mail (be sure to shred anything that could be used
\nfor identity theft), phone books, and metal clothes hangers are likely
\ncontenders. <\/p>\n

Some items are actually hazardous and may require special
\nhandling (and can be illegal to toss in the trash). These include TVs, computer
\nmonitors, and batteries to name a few. But they can be recycled at surprisingly
\nconvenient drop-off points at major retail locations like Staples, Office
\nDepot, and Goodwill. <\/p>\n

To find out who takes what, go to Earth 911.com<\/a> and type in the type of items you
\nhave and your ZIP code for a list of places near you that will recycle at no
\ncharge. Be sure to plot your course so you can load up the car and hit all the
\nplaces you need in one trip to save even more carbons.<\/p>\n

Find
\nyour city’s curbside recycling information<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

4. Packing<\/strong> <\/p>\n

Once you get down to just the items you want to take with
\nyou, the trick will be how to pack it in a green way. A quick search on Craigslist,
\nFreecycle, or your local classified should turn up plenty of free or super
\ncheap boxes you can take off the hands of people who just moved. <\/p>\n

Movegreen<\/a> offers a
\ncardboard box swap program for residents of California. When you’re done, be sure to pay
\nit forward and post the boxes for someone else to reuse rather than trashing
\nthem. Reusing is even better than recycling in this case. The clever folks at Rent a Green Box<\/a> and The Green Box Guys<\/a> have
\nupped the ante on this idea and created more durable reusable plastic bins made
\nfrom recycled materials. Then when you’re done, they take the bins away for
\nyou.<\/p>\n

For packing materials, save bubble wrap and packaging from
\nitems you’ve purchased online, and reuse the stuff. Or repurpose that stack of
\nnewspapers sitting by the couch, even use your own clothes or linens to wrap
\nbreakables – then you’re moving two items at once!<\/p>\n

Find
\nmore green packing supply services<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

5. Get moving<\/strong><\/p>\n

Transportation of people and property is one of biggest
\nenvironmental hazards we face today. When we move, if it’s within the same
\ncity, it usually requires lots of trips back and forth to haul our goods. <\/p>\n

Consider renting a large moving van after you have
\neverything completely packed and ready. Then load it up. If you’ve estimated
\nhow much stuff you have correctly, this should only take one trip and you’re
\ndone.<\/p>\n

Or get some help by looking into professional movers that
\nhave eco-friendly practices. For example Movegreen, mentioned above, will
\ntransport your belongings using B20 biodiesel vehicles. They also plant trees
\nand purchase carbon offsets to counter any unavoidable, un-eco actions.<\/p>\n

Search
\nfor green movers in your area.<\/a><\/p>\n

When it’s all over, you can settle into your new place with no
\nwaste and the peace of mind that you relocated on the planet without being
\nharmful to it.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Check out Yahoo! Green on Twitter<\/a> and Facebook<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

(Photo: Getty Images) I recently moved out of my apartment, and as I packed my 10-years’ worth of belongings under the strain of a deadline to leave my old place, I discovered how easy it is for even the most eco-minded person to be extremely un-green and create a lot of waste during this one […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6447,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-389604","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/389604","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6447"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=389604"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/389604\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=389604"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=389604"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=389604"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}