Students choosing storage to be kind to environment

Eco-minded students are increasingly opting to store their belongings close to university rather than ferry them home – saving parents and carers the inconvenience of making multiple road trips and reducing carbon emissions.

Storage solutions company LOVESPACE has reported a significant increase in student bookings compared to before the pandemic.

They cite rising fuel costs and increased awareness of environmental factors as key drivers in the trend towards student storage.

With more than 2.5m students in the UK and Ireland the higher education sector is expected to be responsible for millions of long-distance journeys this year as campuses return to pre-pandemic levels of occupation.

But growing numbers of students and their families are turning to local storage as a solution to termly return trips with a car or van full of belongings.

A spokesperson for LOVESPACE said: “This generation of students is more aware than any other of the need to reduce carbon emissions so there is a growing trend towards storage as an alternative to making parents haul stuff up and down the motorway.

“Students are educating their parents on environmental concerns and with fuel costs rising many parents are agreeing to pay storage fees for their children rather than face the inconvenience and costs of several car journeys.

“By choosing to store belongings at a site close to student accommodation or even on campus students and their families save both time and money. They also know they’re reducing carbon emissions and being kinder to the planet.”

The LOVESPACE spokesman said the company expects demand to continue to increase with parents and carers weighing up the cost of travelling across the UK and Ireland to collect their offspring and belongings and factoring in the rising cost of fuel.

The company offers a ‘storage by the box’ service which allows customers to only pay for what they use, instead of using traditional methods like renting an entire storage unit which can be costly and inefficient.

Students can choose the number of boxes needed and how long they need to be stored for and LOVESPACE will organise the pickup and drop off, as well as supply the packing materials.

The spokesman for LOVESPACE said: “Huge numbers of students will be on the move this year as campuses return to pre-pandemic normality.

“When parents factor in the cost of fuel, perhaps renting a van and potentially taking time off work, moving can become a very expensive affair.

“We believe it’s the combination of increased fuel costs and the growing awareness of the need to reduce carbon emissions which is persuading thousands of families to opt for near campus storage rather than make multiple road trips.

“Our pay by the box service is very cost effective for students as there’s no paying to rent space they don’t use. We believe these factors are behind the record numbers of student bookings we are experiencing with a big increase on pre-pandemic levels.

“It’s a trend we fully expect to continue as fuel prices remain high and environmental awareness continues to grow amongst both the young generation and parents.”