One of the benefits of hiring professional packing services is that you have more time to plan creative projects in your new home instead of packing and unpacking your belongings. Before you resell your materials to your packing company or recycle them, you may want to consider using some or all of your packing materials to start a compost pile for your garden. With proper planning, packing materials can provide the perfect base for your compost system. 

Request Compostable Packing Materials 

While discussing your packing needs with your moving company, you should request that they use compostable material as much as possible. This includes shredded paper, wrapping paper without inks, waxes, or dyes, and cornstarch packing peanuts as opposed to foam peanuts. Most companies will be able to accommodate reasonable requests regarding the type of packing supplies they use. 

You should keep in mind that to adequately protect your belongings, your packing company may have to use some materials that are not compostable. However, many of these materials can also be used in your compost system. 

Decide How You Will Use Your Boxes

There are several ways for you to use your boxes. You can use boxes to contain your compost pile. After a season, your compost box can be composted, so keep a few extra boxes to create new compost boxes. You may also want to keep a few boxes on hand to store your paper compost materials and other compost supplies. Any extra boxes that you have can be cut into small pieces and be added to your high-carbon material, which is one of the important components to composting. 

Prepare Your Materials 

Paper, cornstarch packing peanuts, and cardboard are all part of your high-carbon material, also known as brown compost material. For your compost to be successful, you should  mix equal parts of brown compost material with green compost material, which includes kitchen scraps and live plants. You should also shred the materials into small pieces to speed up the composting process. 

Shredded paper and cornstarch packing peanuts are already an ideal size for composting. However, wrapping paper and cardboard should be cut into small pieces. If you have a wood chipper, this can speed up the process, but you can also cut the materials by hand as you need it. You should then store all of this material in a dry place until you are ready to use it in your compost pile. 

Hang On to Non-compostable Materials 

For the composting process to work, your compost pile needs to maintain a warm temperature. This can be difficult during the winter and many people find that their compost piles go stagnate until the weather warms up. To prevent this, you can insulate your compost pile with packing material. Bubble wrap makes a good insulator, and you can simply wrap a few layers around your compost box.

If you have packing peanuts, you can put a layer of packing peanuts in a large box, then put a smaller box for composting on top of the packing peanuts. Finally, fill up the space between the two boxes with more packing peanuts. This should keep your compost box warm throughout the winter. 

Start Composting 

Once you have a plan for all of your supplies, it is time to start composting. Layer your brown packing material in your box, then cover that layer with a layer of green, living material. Every few layers, include a layer of soil. Water your compost occasionally so that it stays moist and enjoy your compost during the next planting season. 

Packing material can be recycled and reused in many ways. Composting is just one way to make the most of your packing materials. For more information about using natural packing materials in the first place, contact a company like Bekins Van Lines Inc.