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Or you offer them for free on Craig's List. There's also a crowd who want them for moves or eBay packing.

You also could SELL--yes, perhaps sell--them on BoxQuest. BoxQuest is a website that matches people with used moving supplies with people in need of moving supplies.

freecycle.

If you bring them to the UPS store they are going to turn around and sell them - just so you know. Better to donate to someone who needs.

We take ours to The Packaging Store on Piedmont Ave. The store is owned by two brothers who are happy to take clean packing material off your hand. They will also take clean boxes.

Hey, ebrown...what city?

Some of the new ones that look like Cheetos are actually made from cornstarch - wet them down and then throw them out. They dissolve in water, and are even somewhat edible.

Where I used to work, you could bring packing peanuts down to the shipping office. They put them in giant plastic bags and if anyone needed them, they could have them free. I don't know if they ended up throwing a lot out, but at least some got recycled.

The real problem was styrofoam cooler boxes which were used to ship perishables. Some companies had a recycling program where they were sent back, but the majority of them ended up getting thrown out. I have used a few as coolers for picnics or during moves, but this was a tiny percentage of the larger whole.

I keep a bag of peanuts around for my garden and house plants... a couple of inches of peanuts at the bottom of a pot works really well as drainage.