We had all these window treatments installed in our house yesterday. In almost every room. They arrived in great big cardboard boxes with bubble wrap. Installation went fine, but now our house is full of cardboard boxes and bubble wrap. So many cardboard boxes, so much bubble wrap.
My day has been spent breaking down and wrestling with cardboard boxes. I won; all were collapsed and broken, and we hauled them away for recycling. But now we have to deal with the plastic stuff. First approach: just leave it all over the floor as a burglar warning system. At least for now, because battling immense quantities of cardboard all day in this heat has left me sweat-soaked and worn out. In the next day or two, though, we’ll recycle the bubble wrap, too, a local dropoff place, which isn’t so local — the nearest is over 50 miles away.
Anyway, that’s been my day, how was yours?
Next on my agenda, maybe tomorrow, is to spend some time at the Stevens County Fair. I’m sure you’re all reading the blog to enjoy the exotic, exciting things I do.
cervantes says
If you drive 50 miles and back, you will more than defeat the purpose.
davidc1 says
Just had a look at the Fairs web page ,to be honest doc i can’t see an old fuddie duddie like you enjoying it .
Perhaps you are just going for the candy floss ?
cartomancer says
I would have thought that a progressive socialist living in Trump’s America would need all the bubble wrap they could get – just to stay sane through the therapeutic value of popping the stuff.
PZ Myers says
Our plan is to load up the car with bubble wrap and drop it off on our next trip.
Also, we’d be so safe in any car crash.
jackal says
Does Morris have a Freecycle (yahoo) or FreeYourStuff (FB) group? You might be able to find someone who’s moving and wants to reuse your bubble wrap.
Nerd of Redhead, Dances OM Trolls says
In my area (Chiwaukee), they want the bubble wrap popped prior to leaving it in the recycle bin. Which means I get to pop a string of air bags (packaging) tonight so I can leave them off tomorrow when I stop at a grocery store that recycles their shopping bags.
llyris says
I work for a small business who sends a lot of orders by courier/mail. One of our local customers brings in all the packaging she gets from other suppliers and we reuse it. Boxes, bubblewrap, packing peanuts.
Cat Mara says
At least build Evil Cat a little fort before disposing of the cardboard!
brucej says
Very smart, jackal!
Freecycle in MN: https://www.freecycle.org/browse/US/Minnesota
(note of pride: Freecycle started right here in the terrible sand kingdom of Arizonastan…)
whheydt says
What short cheapass installation company doen’t haul away the packing once they’ve finished the installation work?
blf says
whheydt@10, Extremely common in the States, where there is neither rules / regulations / laws on reuse / recycling of packaging, plus a culture / mindset that dismisses both the idea and what works (to varying degrees) elsewhere. (There are exceptions.)
randall says
Haven’t read the comments yet, so forgive me if I’ve been anticipated, but I recycled my bubble wrap at my local post office. I always thought it a stick in the eye to republicans who are determined to kill our Postal Service… and they were glad to get it.
whheydt says
Re: blf @ #11…
I live in the US. If a contractor left all the packing material behind, There Would Be Words. These days, there would also be an unfavorable on-line review. It’s like the old line…the job’s not done until the paperwork is finished.
blf says
whheydt@13, I have also lived in the States, albeit not now.
There Would Be Words — accomplishing nothing.
an unfavorable on-line review — even more useless.
the job’s not done until the paperwork is finished — in the States, requires lawyers, so rarely happens.
It is possible the standard of contractors has changed, but it also possible one or both of us is confusing leaving recyclable / reusable packaging behind with leaving debris / trash behind — that one would cause words, presumably bad reviews, and more importantly, a complaint to the county / city authorities since it runs afoul of various laws / regulations, generally (from memory) on the grounds of safety & pollution. The problem, at least back then, was the debris and trash would too often be (to use a UK term) “fly tipped”, that is, simply dumped down a convenient hole or into a ditch.
johnhodges says
I like the idea of giving the bubble wrap to the Post Office, or someone else who will re-use it. You might wish to keep some of it, I use it to insulate windows, whenever I have a window where I don’t value the view. Free and effective.
methuseus says
Not that I’ve had a lot of work done, but I thought contractors (at least the few I’ve used) have thrown a few, small things away in my garbage can, but anything larger than a small plastic bag was removed by them. I’ve been asked if we wanted to keep something, but we always said no. It could be because I’ve always been in a somewhat metropolitan area where disposal is easy and fairly cheap.
lesherb says
If you have an independent pack & ship business nearby, they would probably take your bubble wrap. That’s what my husband does with ours.
kaleberg says
It’s not so exotic anymore. I was out at a wedding in Glenwood last weekend. That’s not all that far from Morris. Wow, there really is a LOT of corn out there, that and walleye.
auntbenjy says
I save mine up for the local charity shop for wrapping breakable items.