What to do with foam peanut packaging?? (other than sending them to the landfill)

I've been tabling for SF Environment this past month and a question I often get asked is "What should I do with the foam packaging I get in packages? Can I put them in my recycle bin? Do I just throw them away?"

I can relate to this question quite well...for the longest time I have been hoarding these foam peanuts from moving, getting packages, etc. I keep telling myself, "I'll need these again when I ship something or if I move again in the future." Guess what...Those foam peanuts have probably been sitting in my garage for 10 years now. Eventually I got tired of them and began to research how I could get rid of them sustainably.

First of all...can they be recycled?

Technically yes...but unfortunately most curbside programs do not accept these materials. However there are several easy, economical, and environmentally friendly ways to get rid of these peanuts rather than just throwing them away!

Here are some options!

1. Donate them to a shipping company or a business that does a lot of shipping.

A lot of shipping company (such as UPS and Fedex) will gladly take these packing peanuts off your hands. It's a great way to get rid of these peanuts and give them another life! Many community centers and schools also use these peanuts for art projects so donating to them could be an option too!

I would advise giving them a call beforehand just to make sure that they accept these donations.

This is actually what I ended up doing with my peanuts. I called a local UPS store to make sure they accepted these peanuts and dropped them off. It was a super easy and quick process. It's a great way to reuse these peanuts while  helping out a local business at the same time.   

If you can't find any near by places on your own, you can try calling the Peanut Hotline and see where you can donate the peanuts! There are also mailback programs you can send the foam peanuts to. Here is a list of mailback locations.

2. Put them up on Craigslist or Freecycle Network

You would be surprised to see how many people actually want these peanuts...artists..movers...So go ahead a post an ad on one of those sites and you can have someone come pick it up right off your curb/doorsteps!
Just make sure not to put up any personal information on the actual ad. Once someone messages you about the peanuts you can set up a pick up.

3. Use them around the house

Frankly if you have a lot, you should probably just give them away and save yourself from the clutter...but if you would still like to keep them, there are several practical uses for these peanuts!

Here's some more useful websites on what to do with these foam peanuts!

1. Apartment Therapy - What to do with all those packing peanuts
2. Wiki How - How to Recycle Packing Peanuts

I actually really like the idea of using them as stuffing (ex. bean bag chair)..that way you have a practical way to store them and can keep them for future usages!

Hope this was helpful to you! 

Want to learn more about packaging peanuts? Here are some great resources:

Packing Peanuts - Earth911 - tells you about what packing peanuts are made out of and sustainable alternatives to them!

What To do With All Those Packing Peanuts After Moving? - great resource on what the colors of the peanuts mean and ways you can reuse/recycle them!

EPS Packaging - More info on recycling EPS (materials in the foam peanut)

Got any other ideas on what to do with packing peanuts? Comment below!

Thanks for reading!!

- Joyce

Introduction

Hello everyone!

Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Joyce and I am a humble girl from the city of San Francisco! Growing up I have always had the firm belief that we all have some sort of responsibility to take care of our planet. After all, it is our one and only home.

I think it is safe to say that we all want a healthy and beautiful environment to live in. Often times when people think about environmental work or being environmentally responsible, they think it requires a lot of time, effort, and knowledge. However being sustainable is actually a lot easier than you think!

I am going to show you ways you can be more environmentally friendly, save money, and improve your overall wellbeing all at the same time. (After all, who isn't happy about saving money?) I will teach you about environmental science and issues and how they affect us while making it as simple and easy to understand as possible!

I also realized recently that there are various programs and service that many members of the community do not know about. For example did you know that California offers incentives and tax breaks to homeowners that reduce their energy usage or improve their home energy efficiency? (Check out: Energy Upgrade California) Or the various commuter benefit programs that San Francisco offers? If you knew about these then great! Be sure to tell more people about them! If not, I will tell you more about them in my future blog post!

I will also be posting up more events, services, and programs that I find around the Bay Area so keep an eye out for them!

Please feel free to message me with any questions or topics you would like to know more about and I will do my best to answer them!

Thanks for reading!