apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

If you are sending packages to a Peace Corps volunteer chances are that whatever you package stuff in will get reused. I gave away loads of boxes, paper wrapping was used to start cooking fires, packing peanuts were used as stuffing for pillow and bubble wrap was super entertaining for all the kids in my village.

Anything I threw away reappeared later-- my broken flip flop was used to make a fishing lure, packaging from american treats that were sent to me ended up as wall art. Anything private that I was getting rid of had to be tossed down the latrine or burned immediately.

I use paper grocery store bags as packaging for items from my Etsy store. When someone purchases an item I cut the bags and crumple them in the box. Not only does it allow me to recycle and save mony on packaging materials, but because the paper is so thick the fragile items that I sell are completely protected inside the box.

We have received boxes of wedding gifts from Macy's, Williams-Sonoma, and Crate & Barrel. Macy's was the only company that used the potato(?) starch peanuts. They include a little card in the box that says you can put them in the garden, flush them in the toilet, put them in the trash - they dissolve completely. Or reuse them and let the recipient know they are starch.

Is there an effective way to let businesses know that you don't like how much packaging they use? I've been horrified with amazon.com and Bloomingdale's most recently.