Online package shipments are up with the holiday season, and so are calls to the Peanut Hotline. The 800 number, along with a corresponding web site, Loosefillpackaging.com, directs consumers to the nearest drop-off center for recycling of the plastic “peanuts” and other loose plastic materials used to pack items ordered online or by catalog. “Each holiday season we see an increase in consumers' awareness about the reusability of plastic peanuts,” says John D. Mellott, president of the program’s sponsor, the Oakland, Calif.-based Plastic Loose Fill Council.
Retailers who’ve participated in the 12-year-old program by including, in shipments that contain the plastic peanuts, contact information for locating a recycling center have include Williams-Sonoma, QVC, Neiman-Marcus and others.
Drop-off centers that will accept the plastic peanuts for re-use are mostly neighborhood shipping centers such as Mailboxes Etc. About 1,500 such outlets are participating in the reuse program. A web search for drop-off centers in Chicago, for example, produced a list of nine locations. The neighborhood shipping centers receive free packaging materials and potential new customers every time someone drops off loose plastic fill at their location.
For retailers who choose to promote the program by including information in their shipments to customers, "It's a great way to position themselves with their environmentally concerned customers,” says a Council spokeswoman. “It doesn’t cost them anything to let their customers know. When the package arrives, the customer is dealing with the goodies, but also the not-so-goodies of packaging to dispose of. If they can talk about that positively, it’s a feel-good all around.”
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