It Drives Me Nuts That You Can't Recycle...Packing Peanuts

After one of my recent recycling posts, my friend Andrew tweeted me asking about recycling packing peanuts:



I have to admit, I have long thought that there just wasn't much you could do with them other than hope at some point you had a massive package full of fragile stuff to ship.  And who doesn't want that, really?

It's great that they make the cornstarch biodegradable ones, but let's face it, the majority of stuff you get packed in packing peanuts still are the old school variety.

But guess what?!  You can recycle them.

Or at least rest easy knowing they are being re-used.

Where?

Yup, your local UPS Store.  Now bear in mind that UPS Store locations are francises so they can decide whether or not to accept them.  But the majority of them do.

You don't have to do anything special with them.  Just dump them into a box or a bag and bring them in.  They will take them (for free!) and reuse them in future packing they do.

In addition, many of the locations will also accept the padded airbags (like the ones you get from Amazon, for instance) and unbroken bubble wrap.

The best thing to do is call your local store (you can find their number through the above link) and just ask what they recycle.

It is not uncommon for other shipping and packing facilities to accept packing peanuts or other packing materials for reuse or recycling, so if you don't have a UPS Store near you, it's worth checking in with your local facility or county recycling location.

Happy recycling and reusing!