styrofoam recycling?

[sumbride]

We just received two huge boxes full of styrofoam peanuts! Well, 12 pieces of Waterford stemware were buried within, completely intact, but it still seemed like an ungodly amount of styrofoam. I''m a little nervous that all our registry packages from this department store will be packed in such a way and the dormant environmentalist in me has awoken and is screaming! Anybody know what I can do with all this styrofoam? If it were one box I''d throw it away, no problem, but it''s several cubic feet! and we''ll probably get more! HELP?

Is there such a thing as a recycling center for packing peanuts?

 

[Lorelei]

We have some in the UK which biodegrade if you soak them in cold water and turn to liquid which can be rinsed away. Check to see if this packaging is similar, apart from that I don't know...Nice gift!

 

[belle]

try calling your local mailboxes etc. they may be able to reuse them.
yay for presents!

 

[sumbride]

Oh, good idea Belle! We actually have a box at the UPS store, maybe they''ll want them.

Lorelei - I LOVE those dissolvable ones... they are so much fun! You can use them in the garden too for mulch. Sadly, these aren''t those.

And the Waterford was an awesome gift! It was from my mom. We registered last weekend and she was with us. The crystal pattern we picked out is Summer Breeze from Waterford, but they were discontinuing the white wine glasses for some reason and I just loved them so she bought us 12 for an early Christmas present so we wouldn''t miss out on them. I''ve read that Waterford never discontinues a pattern, but apparently they do discontinue certain pieces within the pattern! Yay for mom! FI and I are so excited about them! We have nowhere to put them yet, but we''re working on that.

 

[anchor31]

I know Ontario has facilities for styrofoam recycling, but I don''t know about the States at all. Sorry I''m not very helpful! The best thing you could do is reuse them.

I''ve never heard of biodegradable styrofoam! I''m a bio student with a specialization in environment conservation and I worked the whole summer learning and educating people about recycling, composting and other environmental issues... Why have I never heard about this?

It''s fantastic!

 

[sumbride]

Anchor - I think it''s made from cornstarch. I first saw it in high school, about 12 years ago or so. It literally dissolves in water. I think it costs more than the other kind so companies don''t often use it but I love it when I get it in a package and I respect the companies that use it!

 

[justjulia]

On our local tv station, they encourage recylcing and state that while a banana peel takes 4 weeks, styrofoam takes more than a million years to biodegrade. Wow. We have a recycling service that comes to pick that kind of thing up. I wonder if you looked under "recycle" in the yellow pages, something would be the area. ?

 

[qtiekiki]

I am pretty sure they are recycleable and you can just put them in the recycling bin. But to be sure, you can call your city''s sanitation department to double check.

 

[sumbride]

I just checked with my city and they don''t recycle it but suggested I contact mailing stores so that''s what I''ll do. Pretty cool though... did you know you can dissolve styrofoam with oranges? Well, actually they extract the chemicals from orange peels and spray that on it, but it''s still really cool. Sony does it with all their massive styrofoam trays that they pack stuff in. I just bought some oranges... must try this!

 

[justjulia]

Date: 11/17/2006 1:22:30 PM
Author: sumbride
I just checked with my city and they don''t recycle it but suggested I contact mailing stores so that''s what I''ll do. Pretty cool though... did you know you can dissolve styrofoam with oranges? Well, actually they extract the chemicals from orange peels and spray that on it, but it''s still really cool. Sony does it with all their massive styrofoam trays that they pack stuff in. I just bought some oranges... must try this!

Wow, cool. I''ll have to try that.

 

[AGSHF]

Hello sumbride,

I take all of the styrofoam peanuts we get to any mailing-type store (UPS store, Mail Boxes, etc.) or Office Depot''s or OfficeMax''s UPS counter. Save them up in trash bags or something large and take them (recycle the cardboard boxes

). They are always happy to re-use them.

Hope this helps!

 

[belle]

we would love to see your waterford sumbride!

 

[sumbride]

I can''t find the cord to my camera, so here''s the stock photo. It''s a beautiful delicate swirl pattern and when you look at it from the top down, there''s a star in the middle of the glass. I just saw they have martini glasses online! Hmm.... must investigave further!

 

[belle]

ooooh....very pretty sum!
you''re mom did GREAT! good shopper she is.

 

[codex57]

The packing stuff in my cell phone''s box was recyclable. Looked like styrofoam, but on the back had stuff saying how it was recycleable.

 

[sumbride]

thanks Belle! She is a good shopper! And she was able to ship them directly to us to bypass Texas sales tax, which is about 8.5%! That made her even happier! I''m glad she swooped in and saved the day! We started looking at different patterns again but I just didn''t like any of the others as much as this one! It''s so delicate and pretty without being flimsy, plus my FI felt comfortable holding it. Also helps that it has my name in it... She saw how much we liked it and now we have our wine glasses! Very cool mom I have.

 

[IrishAngel7982]

Those are beautiful Summer! I LOVE Waterford.

But yeah, styrofoam is recyclable but it''s not worth it. There''s not much you can do with recycled styrofoam and it''s really expensive to go through the process. I know because I researched recycling info for a unit to teach the kiddos. As far as I know, the environmentalists in the US will just tell you to pretty much stay away from it if you can. Sending them back to the UPS store or post office is a great idea!