recycling or reusing styrofoam peanuts

[heathergrrrl]

hello!

i have bags of styrofoam peanuts that i've collected over the years from various packages i've received and don't know what to do with them! they aren't burnable and i hate to just throw them away.

at home, i would toss them in my trunk and bring them to my local packing/shipping shop where they could re-use them. but here there is no car and i can imagine the reception i would get if i tried to give them bags of old peanuts - has anyone tried?

does anyone know a good place/way to environmentally dispose of these?

thanks-a-million!

[rubirosa]

You should give them to the troll once known as Jesus so he can use them to replace his brains.

[tunacan]

You should give them to the troll once known as Jesus so he can use them to replace his brains.

heather--sorry about the interruption from that troll, rubipinko.

Feel free to report him!

There should be a trash-sorting system in your neighborhood that stipulates which day styrofoam can be disposed of. If not, contact your city hall--they'll have a schedule.

[rubirosa]

Paulh is back.

[passingfancy]

hello!

i have bags of styrofoam peanuts that i've collected over the years from various packages i've received and don't know what to do with them!

Cute, but the term "Gomi Yashiki" comes to mind! hehe

Some new packing peanuts are actually designed to be dissolvable in water and can be safely flushed (but test a few first!)

Regular polystyrene peanuts can be dissolved in acetone.

When the peanuts are placed in acetone (found in nail polish remover and in lacquer/paint thinner), the acetone breaks down the polymer chains. The Styrofoam becomes soft, releasing the air bubbles trapped in the foam, and the polystyrene ends up as a soft blob in the acetone. When the blob is removed and the acetone is allowed to evaporate, it solidifies into a piece of hard plastic.

You can dissolve a large trash bag of peanuts into a teacup sized plastic lump which can be safely discarded on non-burnable trash day, or fashioned into tree ornaments and mailed to friends this Christmas!

If you have any irritating neighbors, then these peanuts also dissolve the same way in the gas tank of their car!

[Hijinx]

I give mine to the elephants at the zoo.