My garage was filled with boxes, ready for the move. Most of them have now been reused by friends and family.
While I was in the midst of packing up all my possessions to move them to my new house, I started to question my decision to do this. I am starting to understand why on the TV show Love It or List It, most people pick “love it.”
It is a very daunting task to pack everything in your house into a cardboard box.
I considered myself to be pretty good at not acquiring too much unwanted stuff. In the last year, knowing that a move might be in my future, I had started purging and organizing our belongings. I keep a box in the garage for items that can be donated for reuse. When I am purchasing something, I ask myself: do I really need this item? However, I was still amazed at how much there was to pack; it felt like it was never ending.
And all of those cardboard boxes — by moving day our garage was stacked to the ceiling with cardboard boxes. Once we knew we were moving, we started our box collection. We asked for boxes from friends who had also recently moved and we frequently visited the LCBO, buying one bottle of wine and carrying out as many boxes as we could.
Once we moved to the new house, a mountain of broken down cardboard started to grow in our new garage. Just as we had acquired the boxes from someone, sure enough it wasn’t long and we were able to pass them on to the next person to get filled up for their move.
I know how exhausting and frustrating a move can be, but remember not to just throw a large pile of garbage and cardboard boxes on the curb. Our waste collection crews do not have enough time to stop and clean a mess like that up. Each truck has a thousand houses to collect waste from in a day. If you are putting cardboard boxes at the curb for Blue Box collection, they need to be flattened and tied in bundles no larger than 90cm x 90cm x 30cm (3ft x 3ft x 1ft).
Here are a few resources at Halton Region that might help you if you are also moving:
- Take It Back! Halton lists organizations that accept items for reuse or businesses that take items for recycling or proper disposal such as CFLs and batteries
- Halton Waste Management Site for dropping off large items or that pile of cardboard boxes
- Bulk Waste Collection for up to 3 large items that are greater than 50 pounds
- Metal and Appliance Collection
Once you are settled in your new house, there are several locations where you can get a new Blue Box and GreenCart from Halton Region. You can also check out your new waste collection schedule on our website.
Now that I am moved, I am looking forward to filling my house with new memories and good times with friends and family.
HaltonRecycles 