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I try to reuse them when mailing out freebies, but the foamy and plasticky packaging materials just keep piling up in my tiny apartment. Apparently, I pack things up more efficiently than the people who send samples and other stuff to blog about -- leading to a constant packaging surplus.
My latest strategy: To reuse just the bubble wrap for packaging, saving the peanuts to drop off at UPS for reuse. My local UPS office employees are always very friendly, taking off my hands not just the peanuts but also unused UPS bubble envelopes -- I amass those from cheap, uneco PR reps who use them in lieu of bubble wrap.
To the right's the latest collection of peanuts I gave UPS. So -- The purpose of this post is threefold:
1. To remind everyone that packing peanuts can easily be dropped off at your nearest UPS, FedEx, and most independent packing / shipping stores for reuse.
2. To encourage marketers and PR reps to stop -- or at least reduce -- the plastic and foam packaging in their product sample packaging, especially when seeking positive press from environmental writers. Fake Plastic Fish writes long, beseeching letters to companies that overpackage. I don't have that kind of energy -- but maybe I'll just start tweeting them a link to this post.
3. To let readers who get plastic-wrapped freebie packages from me know that no, I didn't buy that stuff -- It's all reused!!
Related links:
>> Laurie at ecoki wants you to say sayonara to packing peanuts -- by reusing egg cartons as a more eco-friendly packing alternative.
>> Rebecca at Apartment Therapy names another way of recycling packing peanuts: As raw materials for your own succulent garden.
>> Justin Wehr at Wehr in the World points to a visual illustration of 166,000 packing peanuts -- equal to the number of overnight packages shipped by air in the U.S. every hour.
