Whether you're relocating across town, across the country or across the world, you can make your next move a more environmentally friendly one.

• One of the main tenets of green living is, "reduce." So get rid of as much of your stuff as you can pre-move. The fewer things you have to move, the less packing material and fuel you will require. But purge the eco-friendly way: offer items that don't make the cut to friends and family, hold a garage sale, or sell, donate, or recycle them.

• Don't buy boxes; savage them from from local retailers or friends and family, and recycle them post-move or pass them on to someone else. Alternatively, you can rent storage containers, either from a regular moving company or one of the increasing number of green moving companies that offer containers made from recycled materials.

• Bubble wrap and Styrofoam peanuts are made in an eco-unfriendly way and linger in landfills. Don't buy packing material - collect it from the products you buy and reuse it for your move; use your clothing, bedding, towels and kicthen cloths to pad your belonings; or pack with paper products like newspaper and cardboard, which can be recycled when you're finished with them.

• Hire an eco-friendly mover. They provide the reusable, recycled and/or recyclable storage containers and packing materials for you, take them away when your move is over, and, in some cases, they use trucks that run on biodiesel fuel to transport your belongings.