Plant based reusable, compostable packaging peanuts
Yesterday I received a package I had ordered from a company called Grüum ( https://www.gruum.com/our-commitment-to-the-planet/
). They are a new(ish) company from Manchester producing and selling skin products.
When the package arrived it had a sticker on it telling me about the filling material inside the box. I'd not heard of it before so searched the Internet. I have no idea which company manufacture the filling, there were a few, but using the details on the label as my search criteria I found some similar products to what I was holding. I found out that if you soak the peanut it will biodegrade, so I tried it and had a sticky mess on my fingers, particularly after squeezing the water out.
I then wondered where to put it to get rid of it. It wasn't plastic so recycling waa a no, no.
It wasn't from the garden, so garden waste was out.
It certainly wasn't paper based so that was out.
It was made from cornstarch. Hmm! How about the food recycling?
At that point I decided to ring the council, that's a long haul job! It was answered pretty quickly and I worked my way through all the option buttons until I was told I had reached destination.
Good news!
Then I was told how many others had reached it before me - and they were still waiting to be answered as well. Bad news!
I stuck to it and eventually I was spoken to by a young sounding lady who actually listened when I explained that I didn't want to put them in land fill, nor any of the recycling options I had rejected. I told her about my search of the Internet and I was surprised she actually looked for the products. We had a good conversation about what she was looking at, after which she agreed that my conclusion was correct.
I thanked her for confirming it and she said "No thank you for teaching me something new".
She said the product had been news to her, but told me she would let the staff in Waste Management know that biodegradable peanuts were safe to put in the food bin.
I just wish they had been real peanuts!
). They are a new(ish) company from Manchester producing and selling skin products.
When the package arrived it had a sticker on it telling me about the filling material inside the box. I'd not heard of it before so searched the Internet. I have no idea which company manufacture the filling, there were a few, but using the details on the label as my search criteria I found some similar products to what I was holding. I found out that if you soak the peanut it will biodegrade, so I tried it and had a sticky mess on my fingers, particularly after squeezing the water out.
I then wondered where to put it to get rid of it. It wasn't plastic so recycling waa a no, no.
It wasn't from the garden, so garden waste was out.
It certainly wasn't paper based so that was out.
It was made from cornstarch. Hmm! How about the food recycling?
At that point I decided to ring the council, that's a long haul job! It was answered pretty quickly and I worked my way through all the option buttons until I was told I had reached destination.
Good news!
Then I was told how many others had reached it before me - and they were still waiting to be answered as well. Bad news!
I stuck to it and eventually I was spoken to by a young sounding lady who actually listened when I explained that I didn't want to put them in land fill, nor any of the recycling options I had rejected. I told her about my search of the Internet and I was surprised she actually looked for the products. We had a good conversation about what she was looking at, after which she agreed that my conclusion was correct.
I thanked her for confirming it and she said "No thank you for teaching me something new".
She said the product had been news to her, but told me she would let the staff in Waste Management know that biodegradable peanuts were safe to put in the food bin.
I just wish they had been real peanuts!
