I recently mailed a vintage glass pitcher to a customer; wrapped in tissue paper, wrapped yet again in bubble wrap and the box filled with packing peanuts. I want items purchased to get to their destination intact not in bits and pieces. This is how I have packed items for 8 yrs now.

The customer was displeased with my use of styrofoam packing peanuts and how ecologically irresponsible it was of me to use them she also shared with me all of the other options, all of which I was well aware of and had tried. So I thought I would take a moment and post my thoughts on packing materials here for all to read.

I have tried the biodegradable packing peanuts, squashed newspaper and shredded paper of many types but I always go back to the styrofoam peanuts.

Yes, I do care about the earth. I do my part on recycling, all of my light bulbs are the swirly florescent type that save energy and last longer. I have a rain barrel to save rain water to water my garden, outdoor and indoor plants. I put no pesticides on my yard and I feed every type of wildlife that wants to come into the backyard and feast. We carry our clothe bags to the grocery store on each trip so as not to bring home more plastic bags. I take my own Tupperware to restaurants to bring home leftovers so as not to bring home styrofoam. We have very few plastic products in our house and no one drinks out of plastic (more of a health thing). I have a huge and very productive compost bin. I also don’t use any chemical products to clean my house, everything is earth friendly and people and pet friendly.

To be truthful, I have been recycling and “doing my part” to save Mother Earth for about 20 years. I was always told to leave a place as clean or cleaner than how I found it so responsible gardening, composting, recycling, etc. are a part of my life not some new fangled idea that I am just now jumping on. Heck, that is the basis for my business, take items that others no longer want and pass them on to folks who want them.

But when it comes to shipping antiques, collectibles and other vintage or retro memorabilia items folks purchase from me, I  have found the styrofoam peanuts to be the very best in keeping the piece safe and arriving in one piece.

The biodegradable peanuts have some draw backs; 1) I buy my packing supplies in bulk and if the biodegradable peanuts are left to sit for longer than a month they start to stink they also start to break-down. Actually, I think they stink when they are new but they smell worse when they are a few weeks old. 2)They attract bugs. 3)They do not provide the cushion that the styrofoam peanuts provide therefore, when I was using them exclusively my breakage rate was higher. 4) The cost is higher for the biodegradable peanuts by about $7.00 per 40 lbs of peanuts.

Squashed up newspaper does not provide cushioning and it adds extra weight to the package. I recycle my newspaper on a weekly basis anyway. I do use it on large items that do not need the cushion that smaller more fragile items need.

Shredded paper also adds extra weight plus it takes up loads of my time to sit at the shredder and put the paper through it. On the rare occasion that I have used shredded newspaper I received nothing but complaints about the mess it made. Yes, it does make a horrible mess. It does provide more cushion than the squashed up paper but the time involved, in my world, is not worth it.

Packing supplies overall are not cheap and the price continues to go up, I do not pass this cost on to my customer’s as I consider it just part of the cost of doing business. Yet, I have to do my best to keep those costs under control while still providing the best possible service to my customer’s.

At this point in time styrofoam peanuts are the cheapest and in my opinion the best. You can recycle them (just make sure there is nothing but packing peanuts in the box or bag, no trash)…. you can take them to a local shipping center such as the UPS shipping locations, look on craigslist and see if someone is looking for them, if you know someone who sells on an online auction site I am sure they would welcome them or even an eBay seller store.

There are ways to use non-biodegradable items in a responsible way other than toss them in the trash and send them to the landfill.

On my new website I will offer the option of packing material, of course if the packing material has taken loads of my time or has cost me more then there will be an added cost. It is my pleasure to offer customer’s exactly what they want and this is the only way I can figure out how to fill this particular bill.

Tags: costs of packing material, eco safe packing material, types of packing material