In an effort to lighten the mood around here... I'm going to tell you today about my irrational anger toward.... packing materials. No, not the stuff you put in your horse's feet. I mean actual packing materials. Like packing peanuts, or the squiggly paper pieces, or those inflatable plastic pillows. Or the worst offender there is: styrofoam.
I can't tell you exactly what it is, but I get so MAD at packing material. I mean, yes, it's generally terrible for the environment. But that's not it. I just hate its very existence. I open a box and am met with all kinds of packing crap and I just get so irritated! I mean, I know, sometimes you need it. Especially for breakable items. But still. Ugh.
There is certainly a hierarchy to how much I hate different materials. The one I dislike least is just plain brown paper and/or newspaper. I don't mind that so much. It recycles easily and doesn't make much of a mess. And technically, if it's newsprint, it's already being recycled as packing material. That's useful. Not so bad. Next is probably the inflated pillows. They're easy enough to break down, but I hate that most of them are not recyclable. After that would probably be packing peanuts. They get staticky and take up a lot of space in the trash. Some are made of cornstarch and they can be melted with water, but who actually does that? My next most hated are the squiggly paper pieces. Those things end up everywhere! No matter how careful you are with it, a bunch of them just wind up not in the trash and stuck to either your new stuff or you. Or your socks. It's just the worst. Okay well not THE worst. THE WORST offender is styrofoam. It always winds up breaking into little bitty styrofoam balls and/or pieces. Those little effers collect static electricity like nothing else, and wind up all over the floor, stuck to the item that came in the box, stuck your hands... And you can't get it off. It just STICKS TO YOU! I hate it. I hate it so much.
What say you? Do you have any feelings about packing materials? Or is there some other weird unimportant thing you have really strong emotions about?
dude... yes. also have feelings. in fact... i live in an apartment building with a trash / recycle room on my floor, and whenever possible i open and toss packaging material before it ever even has a chance to get inside my unit!
ReplyDeleteThat is smart! During the early days of Covid I opened everything outside, and truthfully, I should go back to that.
Deleteugh yes and add three cats to any of that material and it is a damn mess! HATE ALL OF IT (tho they have fun with the brown paper and/or newspaper). WHAT IS THE POINT Of the cut up paper?? I dont get it!
ReplyDeleteOMG, I can only imagine the mess!
DeleteI HATE Styrofoam. I can't even touch it without cringing. I didn't know about dissolving some in water. That would be cool.
ReplyDeleteRight?! It's the worst stuff ever!
DeleteI actually get a bizarre amount of satisfaction out of melting the cornstarch peanuts. But it also wastes water...
ReplyDeleteLol! Well at least someone is enjoying them!
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