I've been throwing it all out for years but this weekend I decided to try and find an alternative to chucking it. I was just curious if anyone else was having any luck getting it recycled. In eastern PA I've consistantly gotten the same answer "we don't take it, throw it out". From serching the internet it does seem there are some companies breaking it down and using the stuff for glue but I've yet to talk to anyone that actually takes it.


Edited: to make sense to more people than just myself.

This message was edited by Ted Wetzel on 11/22/04 15:48 ET.

Ted,
What info is that? Come on, how would we know to tell you if you don't tell us what you are talking about?

We keep enough to use for occasional shipping, and take the rest to city recycling bins.

Well, the last time I was overwhelmed with "peanuts", I simply shipped the boxes off to my brother-in-law......

Man. Was he ever PO'd.......It was worth the UPS charges.......lol

Sorry I couldn't resist.
Two options-

1) save up about a tracter trailer full of styrofoam peanuts
go to your friends house in the middle of summer
spread a thick layer of peanuts ALL ABOUT (on the car, on the roof, neighbors roofs and yard, mailboxes and anything in sight of his front windows as if it has snowed) call him early and tell him to look.

2) burn it

We always seem to have an abundance of UPS tags from Dish Network for returning broken equipment.

Just fill up a box with all the packing material, slap the prepaid label on it and send it over to Dish Network. Also works well for emptying out the tech room trash can.......

Memories... Long ago I was helping to set up a new Pier One store and we enclosed and area about 12'X12,X10' with cardboard, the walls, and shelves, and well... It was a great thing that those shelves in the stock room went up soooo high.

Acetone should melt them down to just about nothing, but then you've got toxic sludge to deal with.

When the starch based ones hit the market we cut a bunch of them into cherio like discs with scissors and filled a bag that we secretly emptied of perfectly good health food snacks... and they were eaten up. They were delicious.

They take all foam/peanuts at the recycling station here... however you have to drive it there yourself. :-)

If anyone ever NEEDS some (ha!), there's probably enough there at any given time to move about a week's worth of eBay commerative plate sales.

Not sure but I heard once that places like mail boxes and more would take peanuts of your hands.

Yes, it's no problem getting rid of the peanuts. I'm talking about the vast quantities of rigid white foam that TVs and stereo equipment are packed in. I throw out truckloads of that stuff for years, as has the vast majority of us installers. All my peanuts go to MBE and the cardboard is broken down and taken to the recycler.

Many a customer's attic or crawlspace is home to the boxes and packaging for their equipment. Its good for future service issues and keeps my dumpster a little less full.

Ted is right... the styrofoam sucks. Its a killer on the environment and takes up way too much room in the dumpster. The burn it idea is bad... but only for our children and theirs so who cares right?

I've had my guys empty bags of peanuts in our dumpster way too many times and when the unit is dumped they are all over the neighborhood. I've heard they are a good thing to put in the bottom of planters as they help the soil retain moisture... my IT guy takes a lot of them home for this purpose but I have yet to try it (Mr. Brown Thumb).

Ted, you now have me seeking an answer to that question. I recycle all my cardboard (the guys think I'm crazy for using up valuable shop space for this pursuit... Imagine what they'll say when I start keeping styrofoam too!). If I find a good answer I'll post it here.

I'm on it as well. I found some more info and I'll post it as soon as I organize it.

A local store here called Postnet will take all the styrofoam packing from tv's. They are a ups/fedex shipping co. and I believe a franchise operation. They also take all my peanuts.

But,

I really like the idea about shipping them to Dish, can some one send me some of those labels?

Rockustics uses the biodegradable peanuts... I once had to stuff a bunch of boulder speakers in my van and had to unpack a few to get them all in... Some of the peanuts fell into a puddle and I stepped in it.
It got all over my floor mats and I had to change shoes before I got to the client's home.
Man is that stuff gooey when it melts!!

I wish more companies used them though....

I was kidding about burning it

ebay