But when you have a mountain of boxes on your front porch and you feel behind on everything, you may not have the time and energy for craft projects and composting. Discover some low-effort ways you can responsibly dispose of your extra packing materials after a move.

Often, you can just snap a quick picture of your stack of empty boxes and make a free posting on local sale websites. This typically just takes a few minutes of your time (you really don't have to say much in the sale post other than free moving boxes, after all), and it takes almost no energy or physical work.

If your boxes are in great condition, you might be able to sell them for a few dollars. However, letting them go for free is the quickest way to ensure that someone will volunteer to haul them off with no hassle.

Some moving companies have programs where you can give your used boxes and materials back so future customers can reuse them. This is quite low effort, especially if the company will haul the materials away for you. (Some companies will swing by after you've unpacked and haul off the boxes for an additional fee.)

Talk to your moving company about whether they offer used boxes to customers or if they're interested in starting such a program. If you've chosen an eco-friendly company, they may even make a point of recycling old boxes whenever possible and ensuring new boxes contain recycled content.

If you ship gifts to faraway family regularly or sell items online occasionally, you may have a small stash of shipping materials that you use to pack items before you mail them. Some of the packing materials from your move may be candidates for inclusion in this stash. Smaller boxes, brown paper, bubble wrap, and packing tape could all find a home here.

Another thing you may need these materials for is storage. If you’ve considered storage unit rental for your new home, don't forget to save any boxes you're likely to need.

Of course, not everything can simply go into your recycle bin. It's probably not large enough for all your moving boxes, after all. And your municipality likely won't accept materials like plastic bags and Styrofoam.

However, if you reused things like cereal boxes or shoeboxes in your move as an eco-friendly packing material, the recycling bin may be the best place for them. These small, thin-walled boxes are often not sturdy enough to mail in, and they're less appealing to other movers. Other materials you should consider recycling include:

If you've just moved to a new city, be sure to look up the city's program requirements to see which types of materials they'll accept.

As you can see, you'll have several lower-effort options to get rid of your old packing materials without sending them to a landfill. What you do with your packing supplies will likely depend on your budget (for example, moving company pickup is a more expensive option) and your time and energy limits.

For more information on the moving and shipping services we provide, get in touch with O'Sullivan Moving & Storage Co. today. We can pack, load, move, and even store your belongings if needed as you relocate to your new home.