Holiday gripe

I have a holiday gripe. (Actually, I have several gripes, but why be so negative around the holidays!)

Anyway, my gripe centers around those Styrofoam "peanuts" that are used for packaging. We've received several packages the past few days from online vendors, family members and eBay sellers. Most of the items come packaged with these Styrofoam peanuts. We have an aggressive recycling program in the northwest suburbs so we do our part by recycling a lot of material. However, Styrofoam isn't recyclable, at least not here. So Wednesday morning when the garbage is picked up, I'll have a couple of large garbage bags filled with nothing but Styrofoam peanuts. They should look great in the landfill.

Of course I would rather have the item arrive unbroken, but can't we invent something that is more earth-friendly? For example, packages from Amazon.com are packed with plastic Baggie-like packaging that contains air. Once I remove the item, I pierce the baggie to let the air out and then put it in with our plastic bags that a local grocer recycles. We've been buying from Amazon for several years and nothing has been broken yet.

It just seems like the smart people who sent a man to the moon or make an iPod can create something safe, inexpensive and environmentally-friendly.

OK, end of gripe. I have garbage bags to fill.