Relocating all your earthly belongings can cause a lot of waste if you’re not careful. Fortunately, there are eco-friendly moving options that can reduce the amount of waste. By utilizing green alternatives, we all leave a smaller carbon footprint and help reduce the cost of an entire household or office relocation. To make sure your next move is eco-friendly, consider some ways to reduce, reuse, and recycle – both before and after your move.

Here are 6 eco-friendly moving options to help reduce waste:

1. One Man’s Trash Is Another Man’s Treasure

As you are purging and scaling back on your belongings before your move there are other alternatives to just throwing a bunch of stuff away. Websites like Freecycle.org and Craigslist.org allow you to advertise unwanted items for free or purchase. These options are great to get rid of stuff quickly.

2. Recycling

You can typically look to your local waste management agency for information about recycling. Most cities offer countless ways to recycle if you ask. You can also use Earth911.com as a resource as well. Recycling drastically reduces waste and your carbon footprint, and is an excellent way to be eco-friendly. Whether you decide to recycle packing materials, boxes, or other moving supplies, know that you are supporting the environment in a big way.

3. Use What You Have

After you take the time to shred your unwanted paperwork from the filing cabinet that hasn’t been opened in five years, save the shredded paper to use as packing material for that extra fragile vase your Great Aunt gave you. For a couple months prior to your move save your daily newspapers to use in place of packing paper or to pack your kitchen dishes. Both the shredded paper and used newspaper will help eliminate the cost of packing paper or peanuts.

4. No Shrink Wrap

Some professional movers offer the additional service of shrink-wrapping all your furniture in plastic like plastic wrap. This is a huge waste of time, money, and plastic, especially if you’re only moving a few miles across town. Instead have your movers use professional, quilted moving blankets in place of the plastic to protect your belongings while in transit.

5. Don’t Toss the Box

At the end of the move don’t throw out those old moving boxes for the trash man; instead sell them or give them away. Pay it forward by giving away your used boxes for others to use or find a local store like Best Price Boxes that will buy back the boxes for resale.

6. Don’t Use Cardboard

Green packing materials, such as reusable moving boxes, plastic containers and environmentally-mindful packing supplies, can go a long way in helping to make your move green and can be found at just about any supply store.

It’s likely there are many more eco-friendly moving options to reduce your waste besides these we have mentioned, but this list should get you started on the path to protecting the environment and helping to reduce waste on the earth during your next relocation!