Wesa ordered a cast iron pot from Macy’s and it got packed in these special packing peanuts which Macy’s says are 100% biodegradable. They’re made from corn and potato starch. Macy’s says you can dissolve them in water and pour in the garden, yard, sink, or toilet, or put them in the compost, put them in the ground, or simply throw them away where they will “dissolve in the landfill.” Pretty neat! The accompanying flyer is inside.
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There’s gotta be a hidden (Earth-Friendly Packing Peanuts) charge somewhere :0
How about they switch to edible ones? Peanuts are great for the soil. Everybody wins!
Or you can add cheese powder from a box of kraft mac n cheese, and you’ve got cheetos!
@ChipMcDougal: of course. nothing is free.
Awesome! Our ferrets love digging in boxes full of these things and it’s a pain to find them these days!
But still not edible. Come on, peeps.
These have been used for shipping at Barnes & Noble stores for the last decade.
@Ash78: I’m allergic to peanuts! Although if my shirt is too big, I can swell up and fill it nicely.
@ChipMcDougal:
There is a hidden charge. It is called “tax-payer subsidies for agriculture.”
Are you kidding? These things have been around for 10 years or so. I remember my parents getting them in packages years ago.
Macy’s is just behind the times.
@Bladefist:
Man, finally a realist republican around to really keep it real. I’m so amazed at your capacity for cutting right to the bone. We need more people like you, Bolton & Wolfowitz.
@Ash78: They are probably edible, just not very tasty.
@Streyeder: agreed… I remember learning about these things in elementary school
These have been fairly standard in the UK for a few years now, and in my opinion a good idea that was long overdue. As far as them being edible… my pet rabbits gnawed a hole in a box and ate their own body-size in these packaging peanuts (they’re almost all air). They seemed to be just fine, though I was worried when I first discovered what had happened. I tried a nibble, and it was a bit bland, kind of like a rice cake with more elasticity.
Nifty!
@blacketj913: Just like peeps.
I’m dipping these in popcorn butter and going to town.
Try barbecue sauce.
@Ash78: Oh, but they are. Not tasty by any stretch, but definitely edible.
These are nothing new. In college, when I worked in the school IT department, we always used to gross people out by eating these packing peanuts. One guy I know, who admittedly was a bit off, actually liked the things as snack food with a little ketchup.
The other thing you can do with these is leave them over the drain of a drinking fountain. When the water hits it, it will turn into a translucent gelatinous mass quite resembling a number of bodily fluids.
How many trees did they cut down to print the fliers to promote their Earth-saving peanuts?
Just like the government that spent $40million to tell me I had a check coming.
@ringo00: Have you been dropping these into vitamin waters?
“They’re made from corn and potato starch.”
Global food crisis? What global food crisis?
Yes, these have been around for a long time, lots of companies use
them, and I think Ben is owed a steak dinner from Macy’s PR department.
Will you burn them, Ben, and tell us what happens?
@TWSS: Considering that styrofoam is made from oil, this isn’t a bad alternative.
@RandomHookup: @Ash78: One of the Mac catalogs used to ship with these, and I remember eating them. I would say they are closest to Communion wafers. Not very tasty in either the good or bad way, and they get gooey. But more nutritious than the box they came in or the PC card they protected.
And they offset it by killing a tree to tell you how they are saving the earth on a flyer. Why not just print it on the box? Why create a whole fucking flyer?
These have been around a while I thought?! I used to impress (freak out, disturb) co-workers by shoving a handful of the pellets in my mouth and “vanishing” them.
Just don’t get them wet, because the peanuts start sticking together quite readily (I presume the wet bits start to dissolve) once they get damp.
Um, before you nibble on these for a goof, bear in mind while they may be made from edible materials, they sure aren’t manufactured or handled according to food safety rules.
I’m just worried about how insects might favour the new packing material.
I can imagine that roaches and small vermin will serve as “added features” with Macy’s shipments.
In all seriousness, have there been any reports of infestation?
If i dissolve enough will i have instant potatoes? Be pretty sweet to kill two birds with one stone! On a serious note, good move!
@diddy0071: A pretty decently designed flyer, though.
Oh good, another use for corn that doesn’t include food…Sounds awesome!
@Ash78: You’re suggesting they use peeps as packing material? That’s just crazy enough to work!
They used to market something similar as children’s building-block toys, I think they were called “Zog Logs” or something similar. You wet the ends of them and they stick to each other (becuase they start to partially dissolve). You can use these ‘peanuts’ to build things if you so desire… a packing-peanut mansion for your pet, and it’s edible!
@HootieMac: Section 9 Reject: Just make sure that Macy’s specifies red Peeps in the shape of their star logo. Yeah, that should do the trick!
And the three-color offset printed flyer telling everyone how responsible they are….?
@sgodun: touché
While they are a great improvement, I know that vermin find them yummy. I lived in a loft in an industrial area and a nearby building was torn down. The displaced rats came to our building.
I had a big garbage bag full of those biodegradable packing peanuts and one night I heard something in it crunching.
The landlord brought over some traps that the rats totally ignored. So I put those some of those peanuts in the traps and wham, wham, wham, the rats were gone. Well, after the LL hauled them away, they were gone.
I don’t keep them in the house.
@RandomHookup: “How about they switch to edible ones?”
The styrofoam peanuts aren’t edible? Oops…
@diddy0071: “And they offset it by killing a tree to tell you how they are saving the earth on a flyer. Why not just print it on the box? Why create a whole flyer?”
My thoughts exactly, minus the profanity
I hope the flyer is biodegradable.
@TWSS: That’s what I was thinking, too. If biodiesel is dicey as an alternative to oil, it seems like using food-based packing materials as an alternative to oil-based is pretty much the same thing!
@consumersaur: Exactly! They’re edible (but not tasty), but excellent for freaking out the coworkers.
Excellent move by Macy’s.
That being said: any of you who contemplate keeping a stash of these in plastic bags for future packing, be aware that they will grow mold and stick together if exposed to dampness. I learned this the hard way. Ewww!
awesome. hopefully this will catch on for other stores.
“Put it in your trash bin. It will dissolve in the landfill.” only if that plastic petroleum-based nightmare of a trash bag you use develops a hole and something wet seeps in. NOTHING goes anywhere in a landfill.
I think it was irresponsible of her to order a cast iron pot from an online source. How much gas did it take to ship that puppy? First from the manufacturer to the warehouse, then to her door. Get off your butt and go to the store! Walk there and back and get some great exercise toting that cast iron pot! (tho she gets props for buying cast iron – one of the few cooking devices that’s good for the environment)
Thank goodness.
My wife and I registered at Macy’s. I can’t tell you how many humongous boxes we received that were 90% peanuts, 10% actual items. It was insane.
I mean, my cat loved it – reaching into boxes and hooking styrofoam peanuts is one of his favorite games, second only to tearing said peanuts apart and making each peanut cover like 20 square feet – but it was obnoxious.
@TWSS: Believe it or not, these things are made from a byproduct of corn processing – it was one of the first (useful) things scientists were able to create from the byproducts of manufacturing ethanol.
@suzapalooza: I’m all for making an effort, but what you just said was a little ridiculous.
Manufacturer -> Distributor -> Retail Store -> Customer
Manufacturer -> Distributor -> Online Store -> Customer
There are an equal number of steps in each equation, and each arrow represents a step in shipping.
Do you think one UPS Truck driving a carefully planned route around a geographical area to deliver 30 cast iron skillets would take more or less gas than 30 people making a special trip to drive their own cars across town and back to buy the same cast-iron skillet at the store?
Yes, everyone could possibly walk, but let’s be realistic, since reality is where we live.