Are reusable moving crates better for the environment?

Reusable moving crates are better for the environment than cardboard boxes for one plain reason: a crate is used again and again, and a cardboard box is usually used once. Hire crates for a move and nothing is bought, flattened, binned or driven to the tip afterwards. That is the whole argument, and the rest of this page is the honest detail behind it, including the awkward bit about plastic.

Why is a reusable crate greener than a cardboard box?

Because the same crate does the job many times over, so the cost of making it is spread across every move it does, while a cardboard box carries the full cost of being made for one trip. A box is manufactured, shipped, sold, taped, filled, emptied, flattened and thrown away, usually inside a fortnight. A crate is delivered, filled, emptied, collected, cleaned and sent out again.

There is a second saving people forget: the tape. Every cardboard move needs rolls of plastic packing tape, and taped cardboard is harder to recycle because the tape has to come off first. Crates have lids. No tape at all.

Is a plastic crate really better than cardboard, when cardboard is recyclable?

Yes, as long as the crate is genuinely reused many times, which is exactly what a hire model forces. The comparison people make in their head is one plastic crate against one cardboard box, and that is the wrong comparison. The right one is a single crate against all the boxes it replaces over its working life.

Cardboard being recyclable is true and it is worth something, but recycling is not free. It still needs collecting, sorting, pulping and remaking, and a box that has been taped, damp or greasy often does not make it through. Not putting something into the system at all beats recycling it.

What happens to the crates between moves?

They are cleaned and sanitised between every hire, then sent straight back out. Nothing is thrown away between customers. A crate that is eventually damaged beyond use is taken out of the fleet rather than sent out broken, and lost or damaged crates are charged at £15 each, which is there to keep the fleet whole rather than to catch anybody out.

Do I have to buy anything to move with crates?

No, and that is the point. Every hire includes the crates with their lids, a dolly to wheel the stacks, labels you write on that peel off cleanly for the next hire, free delivery to your door and free collection afterwards. There is nothing to buy, nothing to build and nothing left over.

• No boxes to buy
• No tape to buy
• No flat-packing or taping up before you can start
• Nothing to break down, store or take to the tip afterwards

Is hiring crates more expensive than buying cardboard boxes?

No, and for most homes it works out cheaper once you count everything. A hire is one flat price: from £79 for a studio up to £249 for a five-bedroom home on a two-week hire, with the dolly, delivery and collection all included. Buying boxes means buying the boxes, the tape and often a trolley too, then finding somewhere to put them and a way to get rid of them.

What else can I do to make a move less wasteful?

• Book the right size first time. Running short means a rushed trip to buy cardboard, which undoes the point.
• Pack heavy things in fewer, fuller crates rather than lots of half-empty ones, so fewer van trips are needed.
• Use the labels rather than marker pen on the crate itself, so nothing has to be scrubbed later.
• Say if you have old packaging from a previous move. We take it away and recycle it rather than leaving it with you.

How do I hire reusable crates for my move?

Pick the package that matches your home size, choose your dates, and we deliver the crates and a dolly to your door and collect them after the move. We cover Sudbury and everywhere within 30 miles, across Suffolk and north Essex, and delivery and collection are included wherever you are in that area.