It’s amazing how many envelopes, boxes, and other miscellaneous packing materials get recycled at our house. Ted receives several boxed shipments and frequent FedEx and UPS envelopes each month, and I usually recycle the packing materials right away to avoid clutter in our entryway. I do try to save whatever can be reused, though, such as bubble mailers, small boxes, and whatever else can be easily stored in our office closets. Packing materials are costly, and they take energy to recycle. Reusing these is the way to go, just be sure to remove or cover up any old address information.
As for those pesky styrofoam peanuts, sure, you could reuse those, but there’s no guarantee that the person on the other end will pay it forward and either reuse them or recycle them properly. Chances are, most people will toss packing peanuts into the trash. Do the planet a favor and find the nearest peanut recycling facility and take them there. Use old newspapers or paper strips from your paper shredder as padding instead.
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kristi 08.05.08 at 12:09 pm
Great tip and good for you! I also recycle as much packing materials as possible. My boyfriend gave me a funny look about a year ago when we moved into our new house, because I had several empty boxes (ones I reuse for my shop, to mail christmas/birthday gifts, etc) that we had to move as well. When we moved, I also used those plastic storage bins instead of boxes, which worked great, plus now we use them all for storage!
Jenni 08.07.08 at 5:59 pm
Thanks for the link to find a peanut recycling location. I receive way too many of those pesky things!