Don't you hate getting an explosion of styrofoam packing peanuts when you unpack a gift? They're not even fun, unlike poppable bubble wrap, and they poison the environment. You can't even compost foam peanuts--but wait, maybe we could. Irish biologists melted down pyrostyrene peanuts into an oil, then fed it to common little soil germs. In the process of slurping up the oil, the bacteria produced a biodegradable plastic, PHA. Reports Scientific American:
...it fuels hopes that Styrofoam--and the polystyrene molecule that makes it--can become more environmentally friendly.
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This would be good news for the U.S., which produced three million tons of polystyrene in 2000, according to the EPA, and threw away 2.3 million tons of the stuff, consigning the waste to rest for long years in landfills. The PHA from this process could be turned to more productive uses; it is already being used to make everything from forks to vitamins.
Hey - I just did a trackback to this post. I blogged about this the other day. First, I had to figure out what polystyrene WAS (I didn't know the scientific term for the brand name "styrofoam").
The reason I looked into it was b/c the package I got had an 800-number for recycling centers. So there is some hope as far as places willing to collect the peanuts for reuse in shipping.
And I included two links for eco-foam (that corn starch product referenced above).
Posted by: Melissa | 2006.03.17 at 11:55 AM
Makes you sort of wonder why we don't just start with the PHA, if it's biodegradable.
I wouldn't mind seeing the pyrostyrene peanuts legislated out of existence in favor of those corn foam peanuts that melt when you add water. Those actually are as much fun as bubble wrap!
The best solution to peanuts is probably to re-use them. Not that we have stuff like Ebay, almost everyone has to ship something sooner or later.
But my favorite idea for re-using pyrostyrene peanuts is for house insulation. I know that EPS styrofoam is a very effective insulator, and I've never quite understood why peanuts aren't collected and just packed into the walls of new homes? It seems like the trapped air between them would make them very effective as insulation. They might also be useful if added to poured concrete or rammed earth walls.
Posted by: johntunger | 2006.03.13 at 10:47 AM
when I was a little kid (9 yo) I was stopped in the street by a man in his twenties who slapped some styrofoam peanuts out of my hands that I was carelessly popping as I walked home from school one day. He then started screaming at me about not doing that because I am going to get cancer. I dont even know what I said back, but Ill never forget it.
m
Posted by: mig | 2006.03.13 at 10:08 AM
I got a bunch in an xmas package last year -- I've just been using it up bit by bit while sending packages to other people. Reuse :)
Posted by: green LA girl | 2006.03.12 at 12:52 PM