Packing Up Your Plants

What to do with those Styrofoam® packing peanuts and take-out containers.

Part of my focus as an Ordinary Environmentalist is to look at how I can reuse materials instead of adding to a landfill. Sometimes I can’t think of a use right away, but I’ll keep things around for a while, hoping I’ll come up with an idea on how to reuse the item.

This explains why I had a bag full of packing peanuts and a dozen or so to-go ‘claim shell’ Styrofoam containers cleaned and stacked in a closet. You know the kind I’m talking about – the white containers you get at a restaurant when you take home your too-yummy-to-throw-out-until-they-are-moldy, leftovers.

The best thing to do is try not to have take-out containers in the first place. Three ways to do this:

1. Avoid take-out (I like to cook so this one is pretty easy for me).

2. Think about how much you order in a restaurant. Consider splitting a plate with your dining companion if portions are too big to eat at one sitting.

3. If you are an ‘extraordinary environmentalist’ bring your own to-go container. I have to admit I’m not there yet on this one, but logically it makes a lot of sense.

Even using these tips, most of us will still end up with some Styrofoam containers in our house. Next best thing is to reuse them. Since I like to cook, I use these containers to pack up leftovers to-go’s for my dining guests. I also bring them to family get-togethers where everyone can use them to take leftovers home (we always bring too much food). I reuse the packing peanuts to... well, to pack things!

I still end up with extra Styrofoam materials - what else can I do? I just tried a new way to reuse Styrofoam materials. I put them into the bottom of my big flowerpots. When full of dirt, these pots can be heavy! Your flowers don’t need all of that dirt. If you fill the lower half of the pot with lightweight Styrofoam (from to-go containers, packing materials, coffee cups, etc.), you have a much lighter pot to move around.

I tried it and it works!

So pack up those plant pots with extra Styrofoam peanuts and containers!

For more information on how to recycle to-go containers, visit Earth911.com.