I have this cute wonderful little Sony MiniDisc recorder that can make hi-fi digital stereo recordings with nothing more than the poke of a couple of buttons, but its proprietary NiMH battery finally stopped holding a charge and while I could still use the AC adaptor the device wasn't half as much use not being portable.(Here I must confess that I had the old nasty-toxic metal hydride battery in my purse to drop off with Lee, the guy who brokers the recycling and safe disposal of nasty batteries, but for whatever reason Fiona found it a quiet diversion during Erin's piano recital in May, and when we stopped for gelato on the way home from the recital, I realized it had got left behind in the church pew. I can only hope that some Christian eco-head found it the next Sunday morning and took it to Lee for me.)
Okay, that's my confession out of the way. I resolved to do a much better job of limiting my ecological footprint with my next nasty toxic NiMH battery. And so, after coming up empty locally, I found a Canadian internet supplier of replacement batteries and ordered one. It arrived quickly and effiicently.
But oh dear. Look at that package in front of Noah. He looks appalled, doesn't he? That box is 9 x 6 x 6 inches. Inside ...
Yup, one teeny weeny battery and half a gallon of styrofoam packing peanuts. An irate e-mail to the company hardly seems sufficient. I'm tempted to mail them back their peanuts. But I know they wouldn't be at all offended by half a gallon of peanuts. They'd just throw them in the trash -- out of sight, out of mind. Gone. Who cares, right?So they're in my garbage. I'm incensed anew every time I walk by the garbage can. How dare they inflict all those peanuts on me?
Hey, Miranda. It's Ann from Idaho and MDC.
ReplyDeleteFYI, in case you have an attic you can toss those packing peanuts or any crushed styrofoam up there to add insulation.
I've been catching up on your blog and y'all are busy! I'm glad to hear you survived the fires and had a wonderful music festival. Continued best wishes to you.....Ann
I like the companies that use air-filled plastic bags for just that reason. :-)
ReplyDeleteKim
We use those bio-degradable peanuts made of a corn starch like mixture... they melt when wet to nothing.. lots of air puffed into them.... I DESPISE the stryofoam ones and like you felt bad about throwing them away... so I stuffed the dog bed with them ( not an option for you since you no longer have one) but they can be used for sit upons etc.... My middles one year did an experiment and buried one in potting soil in a container we keep outside all the time... 3 years later... my youngest found the peanut... good as new!!!
ReplyDeleteOur kit for World Water Monitoring Day also arrived in a HUGE box, no wonder it cost a fortune to send to Canada lol.
ReplyDeleteI realize this is waaaay late, but most companies who do a lot of shipping have these huge hoppers of packing peanuts and any new peanuts that come in just get dumped in the hopper for reuse. So if you find yourself with packing peanuts, just Google for businesses near your house and call them to see if they'll take them.
ReplyDeleteThe only problem with mailing them back, is that first you'd have to deal with all the calls about what was wrong with the product and why you didn't put it in the box and in general waste more electricity and generating more waste than the packing peanuts.