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Tit For tat: Biodegradable Packing Peanuts |
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Written by Doresa Banning
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Monday, 03 November 2008 |
When opening a package, it can be aggravating when Styrofoam (polystyrene) peanuts fall out everywhere and adhere to everything when you’re trying to pick them up. The peanuts also are unfriendly to the environment. During manufacturing, they’re processed with volatile hydrocarbons, such as pentane, and they don’t break down in landfills after disposal.
Now, however, an alternative type of packing peanut doesn’t harm the earth and can be used guilt-free. They’re biodegradable packing peanuts—also called “biodegradable loose fill” or “starch peanuts.”
You may even have some biodegradable peanuts in your house and not know it. The way to tell is to drop one in some water. If it dissolves, it’s a starch peanut.
The first biodegradable packing peanut was Eco-Foam, comprised primarily of corn starch and developed by the now-defunct National Starch and Chemical Co. Today, a number of derivative products made by various companies are on the market. Like Eco-Foam, they’re made of almost 100 percent starch, fully degradable, and decompose in water. They can be disposed of through composting, watering them into your lawn, or washing them down the sink. They’re equally as effective as polystyrene peanuts as far as protecting package contents.
They can be found at Staples, Office Depot, U-Haul, Amazon.com, and other retailers. The price? At Office Depot, for example, one and a half cubic feet of these peanuts costs about $7.
Doresa Banning is a Reno-based freelance writer. |
