What NOT to Pack: What Movers Can't Take, and What You Shouldn't Bother With

What movers legally can't transport

In Canada, this isn't company preference. Transport Canada's Transportation of Dangerous Goods regulations govern what can be carried in a truck, and professional movers are bound by them.

The list covers far more everyday household items than most people expect.

Flammables and anything pressurised

• Gasoline, kerosene, lighter fluid, lamp oil
• Propane tanks — including "empty" ones, which retain flammable residue
• Compressed gas cylinders: oxygen, acetylene, helium, scuba tanks
• Aerosols of any kind — hairspray, antiperspirant, spray cleaners, spray paint
• Butane lighters, matches, charcoal
• Fire extinguishers

Paints and solvents

Paint, varnish, stain, thinners, turpentine, and most garage chemicals.

Corrosives and garden chemicals

• Bleach and harsh cleaners
• Pool chemicals
• Pesticides, fertilizers, weed killer
• Nail polish and remover
• Chemistry sets

Explosives and firearms

• Ammunition and fireworks are prohibited outright
• Most movers won't transport firearms at all. If you're moving them yourself, you must follow RCMP transport requirements — non-restricted firearms unloaded, and specific rules for anything restricted.

Batteries

Car and other lead-acid batteries, and high-voltage lithium batteries. Lithium-ion batteries in particular are a serious fire risk in a packed trailer.

The three that catch people out most: aerosols packed in with bathroom things, paint cans left in garage boxes, and the propane tank still attached to the barbecue.

Do a sweep specifically for these a couple of days before the move, and ask your mover for their own list — it may be longer.

What to do with all of it instead

Use it up. Finish the cleaning products. The tin of paint you meant to use is better on a wall than in a box.

Household hazardous waste. Paint, solvents, chemicals, batteries and aerosols go to your municipality's HHW facility. In Barrie that's at the landfill site. Never put these in your regular waste — and never in the recycling.

Propane goes back through a tank exchange.

Drain fuel from mowers, trimmers and snowblowers before moving day.

Batteries are accepted at many hardware and auto-parts retailers as well as HHW facilities.

Perishables, plants and pets

Food. Opened items, anything frozen, and fresh produce shouldn't travel on a truck, particularly in summer heat or winter cold. Run the fridge, freezer and pantry down deliberately in the two weeks before you move, and donate unopened non-perishables to a food bank.

Plants don't travel well in an unheated trailer, and many movers won't take them. Move them in your own car, and do it last. An Ontario winter can damage a plant on a short trip.

Pets never travel on a moving truck. They go in your vehicle, in a secure carrier or restrained. And update their microchip and ID tags before moving day — that's covered properly in moving with pets.

What to keep with you, not on the truck

These aren't prohibited. They're just things you don't want out of your possession, and movers generally prefer not to carry them either because of the liability.

• Cash and jewellery
• Passports, birth certificates, insurance policies, closing documents
• Laptops and hard drives
• Prescription medications
• Irreplaceable photographs and heirlooms
• Keys, chargers, phones
• Anything you'll need in the first 24 hours — that's your first-night box

The test: if losing it would genuinely be a disaster, or if it can't be replaced with money, it travels with you.

What isn't worth moving at all

Different question, same principle: every item you move costs you something.

Things to seriously question:

• Anything broken you've been meaning to fix for over a year
• Duplicate kitchen gadgets and utensils
• Containers with no lids, lids with no containers
• Expired food, medication and cosmetics
• Worn-out towels and bedding
• Old paint tins kept "for touch-ups"
• Cables you can't identify
• Anything you moved into this house and never unpacked
• Furniture that won't fit or suit the new place — measure first

The deciding question: would you pay someone to carry this into your new home? If not, don't pay to carry it out of the old one.

Most of it can be donated or recycled. Where to donate in Barrie and Simcoe County covers who takes what, and move less stuff has the full sorting method.

Two weeks before: the sweep

Walk the house looking specifically for non-allowables. They hide in predictable places:

• Under the kitchen sink — cleaners, bleach
• The bathroom cabinet — aerosols, nail polish, old medication
• The garage — paint, fuel, propane, chemicals, batteries
• The shed — fertilizer, pesticides, mower fuel
• The laundry room — bleach, stain removers
• The barbecue — the propane tank

Pull them all out, decide what's being used up and what's going to disposal, and handle it before packing week.

The quick reference

Can't go on the truck: fuels, propane, aerosols, paint, solvents, pool and garden chemicals, bleach, ammunition, fireworks, matches, charcoal, fire extinguishers, car and lithium batteries.

Shouldn't go on the truck: perishable food, plants, pets, cash, jewellery, documents, medications, laptops, irreplaceables.

Shouldn't go anywhere: broken things, duplicates, expired anything, and whatever you didn't unpack last time.

Part of the complete guide to packing a house. See also how to label moving boxes and the moving day playbook.

Moving in Barrie or Simcoe County? Binny's Tote Rental delivers reusable totes and collects them once you're in.

This article is general guidance. Prohibited-item lists vary between moving companies, and rules for transporting firearms and dangerous goods are set by the RCMP and Transport Canada — confirm current requirements with your mover and the relevant authority.