Recycling Tips for Your Packing Materials

Packing up all of your belongings and moving is a time consuming task. Not only does one have to plan and budget for all aspects of the move, in most cases one also has to physically sort through what is to be taken to the new location and what is to be discarded. Then the actual packing of each and every item in one’s home has to be carefully packed into cartons and boxes ready to be taken to the new address. If all that was not enough, the reverse process then has to be done, when one has to just as carefully unpack and store everything in an unfamiliar space.

After you move you should also think about the mass of packing materials and moving boxes that you will have to get of. One way to do so is by recycling your old packaging materials.

Use them for a garden. A great way to recycle old boxes is to use them in your home garden. Once you have unpacked your boxes you can shred them to use for mulch around your young plants, bearing in mind that in rainy weather the carton pieces will disintegrate on their own and add to the food chain in the soil.

Use them for a compost. You can also use old boxes and materials to line a compost pit. Simply dig a deep hole in an unseen part of your garden and lay the carton at the bottom and up the sides to make a lidless container. The carton will absorb any nasty smells which may be around when you begin your composting heap, before the contents begin to disintegrate. If you do not have a garden, flatten the carton boxes and take them to the nearest supermarket where someone else in need of packing boxes will snap them up, thus they will be recycled.

Deposit the wrapping. The newspaper you used to wrap up your breakable glassware and fragile ornaments can be deposited in a paper recycling bin which almost every city, town and village has. It does not matter how large or small the paper pieces are – they can all be recycled, as long as they are grease free.

If you are still at a loss as to what to do with or how to recycle any of your remaining packing materials, call your long distance moving company. They often have certain days when they will pick up plastics, cartons and paper from outside of your home; or they will tell you where to take the items for recycling.