How to Recycle Styrofoam Packing

Polystyrene--plastic foam more commonly known as Styrofoam--is a material with many uses. You can find polystyrene in anything from napalm to stuffed animals. One of the most common household applications for polystyrene that you may recognize is the standard packing peanuts you use to protect your valuables. Unfortunately, this versatile substance takes a long time to disintegrate, so it stays in landfills for many years. There are some substances featuring polystyrene that you can't even recycle. Fortunately, it is possible to recycle packing peanuts, which make up a large chunk of the polystyrene thrown into landfills each year.

Things You'll Need

• Trash bag
• Fliers

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Instructions

• 1

  Collect all your packing peanuts into a trash bag. It would surprise you to learn how quickly these little pieces of foam can spread around your house, so it is important that you keep them in a secure location until you recycle them.

• 2

  Keep the packing peanuts for later use. This is probably the simplest way to recycle your packing peanuts.

• 3

  Hang fliers around your community offering the peanuts for sale. Moving materials can be expensive, so plenty of people in your community might jump at the chance to buy discount packing peanuts.

• 4

  Offer the packing peanuts to your friends and family if you are unable to sell them. Ask the person you give them to if they can pass them on to someone else once they finish with them. This can keep the packing peanuts in circulation for a while before someone finally disposes of them.

• 5

  Visit the Earth911 organization website (see resource) to find a company in your general area that will accept and use the polystyrene packing peanuts. Enter the term "polystyrene" into the search bar at the top of the webpage and enter your location information in the box that appears to the right of the page. This will pull up businesses close to you that will accept the used peanuts.