Biodegradable Packing Peanuts

When talking about packing supplies, we can not forget about packing peanuts. I personally do not think these do the best job at keeping the items safe, but that is my opinion. Most of the time, packing peanuts are placed on the bottom of a box roughly an inch in height. After that, the item gets put into the box, where it is then enclosed by more packing peanuts. I don’t think that this is the best packing method because all it really does is prevent an item from shifting around in the box. It does not protect it all that much, but for some reason, they have been used for many years now, and I don’t believe companies are looking to change that. 

It is my opinion that packing peanuts are not the best form of packing material. I say this because the peanuts are small foam bits that help reduce the movement of an item in a box. These peanuts are made from polystyrene fragments. The peanuts do have a unique way of trying to protect the thing that is in the box with them. When compacted down, packing peanuts interlock with one another. When they are not compacted down, they flow unrestricted and can shift around. This is one of the reasons why I say I don’t think they are the best for packing materials. There a chance that whoever packs that item with peanuts may not fill enough, thus allowing for the item to move around freely. 

Some packing peanuts are made from biodegradable materials, which I like. If you have ever received a package with packing peanuts, you will know the mess that they can make. All the small foam bits are all over, and it’s a process to clean up. This is why I say that the biodegradable packing peanuts are a good thing. It can make cleaning up the mess they produce easier because you know they will disintegrate in a while. It also gives you the peace of mind knowing that when you throw them away, then it will not have an impact on the environment. 

The biodegradable packing peanuts came about in the nineties. An environmentally friendly company wanted an alternative way to pack their items safely and have the knowledge that the packing materials they are using are not going to damage the environment. They were a scratch based packing peanut that eventually became a commonplace in the shipping industry. Biodegradable peanuts produce no static build up which is a great thing when it comes to shipping electronics. If there is any static charge build up when the consumer goes to grab that product, there is a chance that the shock will short circuit the electrical components, thus ridding that useless. 

I personally do not think that packing peanuts are the best kind of packing supplies because it does not provide the most protection. The amount of protection an item will have with packing peanuts is entirely dependent on the person who fills the box, and if they are in a lazy mood that day, then they could underfill the boxes that need a lot of this material. This would then result in a broken item. I believe that bubblewrap is one of the best kinds of packing materials, especially when compared to packing peanuts.