While cleaning out the basement for a neighborhood garage sale, I came across a garbage bag full of packing “peanuts” I have been collecting and remembered that teachers in the preschool I worked with used them in craft projects.  I thought it would be fun to divide up what I had into quart sized plastic food storage bags and hand out to kids, along with a set of instructions.  Below is a link to a recipe for using them in a craft project, along with some other ideas for re-use; and, some interesting info.

In case you didn’t know, packing or foam peanuts are the small lightweight objects placed into boxes during shipping to cushion the items inside.  So called, because they are similar in size and shape to a peanut in its shell. They were invented in 1965 by the Dow Chemical Company to replace heavy packaging and reduce shipping costs.

Peanuts are color coded to indicate their composition.   Green is environmentally friendly, made from at least 70 percent recycled content. White is at least 70 percent raw (non-recycled) material. Pink has been treated with a chemical to prevent static cling, so is typically used when shipping electronics.

The typical packing peanut is made from polystyrene – very durable, but not eco-friendly  – lasting for hundreds of years in the landfill.  A newer, green variety, is typically made from corn starch, wheat, or milo, and is designed to disintegrate over time, often dissolving in water*.

You can help lessen the environmental impact associated with these items by re-using them.  Below are a few suggestions.

• Save them for your own future packing and shipping needs.   Since they tend to fly all over and stick to my hands, rather than leaving them loose, I stuff them into small plastic bags and then into my packages.  If you don’t have the room to store them for your own re-use, your local UPS, US Post Office, or eBay store, will often accept them.

• The ones that dissolve in water* are great for use in children’s craft projects.  Check out the link below for one project idea:  www.makeandtakes.com/cornstarch-packing-pals.

• Some companies will include a slip of paper in their shipment, indicating that contents of their peanuts are eco-friendly.  When that’s the case, consider adding them to the compost pile.

• Use less soil, reduce the weight and create better drainage in your potted plants by placing the ones that don’t dissolve at the bottom of the pot.

Some recycling centers will accept the polystyrene peanuts for recycling, so check with yours to find out if they participate.

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*There’s some debate about whether this variety totally dissolves if put them into the sink or toilet. To be safe, don’t do that.  And, please don’t eat them, as some people report.  They aren’t tasty, and you can’t be sure exactly what’s in them.