About Those Air Cushions in Amazon Packages • Hacker News Board

Re: About Those Air Cushions in Amazon Packages

#81

Post by djrogers » Wed, Dec 28, 2016, 3:06 AM UTC

azernik wrote: post #53

thekevan wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The article says they are recyclable but most localities don't do them, they have to be taken to the grocery store & deposited with bags. Why would you target every small business with this expense?

The producer would be the manufacturer; the mandate could either fall directly on the manufacturer, or just require small businesses to arrange with the manufacturer for recycling.

If the mandate fell on the manufacturer, do you think they'd just absorb the cost out of he goodness of their hearts?

Re: About Those Air Cushions in Amazon Packages

#82

Post by dclowd9901 » Wed, Dec 28, 2016, 3:06 AM UTC

azernik wrote: post #53

thekevan wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The article says they are recyclable but most localities don't do them, they have to be taken to the grocery store & deposited with bags. Why would you target every small business with this expense?

The producer would be the manufacturer; the mandate could either fall directly on the manufacturer, or just require small businesses to arrange with the manufacturer for recycling.

In my scenario, the manufacturer would have to either provide logistics for local disposal (seems ideal to me) or do their own service (that would be rough!).

I imagine a cottage industry of recycle processing middle handlers would eventually lower the friction in this space.

Re: About Those Air Cushions in Amazon Packages

#83

Post by disposablezero » Wed, Dec 28, 2016, 3:08 AM UTC

I stab them with my keys to let the air out and recycle at the store with other plastic material, since the local waste company doesn't recycle bags or film at all. It seems a shame considering how much plastic ends up in landfills, water ways, the ocean (great garbage patches in the gyres) and basically on every beach in the world. [0,1] Literally, (no pun intended), the oceans need a million or so plastic-skimming aquatic Roombas to undo the anthropogenic-damage just in the oceans.

Btw: I'm wondering if anyone here recycles plastic using a filament maker for a 3d printer, either DIY or commercial, and how well that works.

0. https://news.vice.com/topic/pacific-garbage-patch

1. https://video.vice.com/en_us/video/garbage-island/563b9c912a...

Re: About Those Air Cushions in Amazon Packages

#84

Post by djrogers » Wed, Dec 28, 2016, 3:08 AM UTC

eridius wrote: post #26

> At the time, bubble wrap was invented for use as wallpaper. How would that work? Nobody wants wallpaper that they have to replace each week because it keeps popping.

The original prototypes were made from shower curtains, so much thicker and stronger than what you're used to seeing wrapped around stuff.

Re: About Those Air Cushions in Amazon Packages

#85

Post by dclowd9901 » Wed, Dec 28, 2016, 3:10 AM UTC

djrogers wrote: post #81

azernik wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The producer would be the manufacturer; the mandate could either fall directly on the manufacturer, or just require small businesses to arrange with the manufacturer for recycling.

If the mandate fell on the manufacturer, do you think they'd just absorb the cost out of he goodness of their hearts?

No, of course not. That's the entire point. The cost needs to be captured _somewhere_ in the private chain because right now it's just an externality that no public entity wants to deal with or can deal with.

Re: About Those Air Cushions in Amazon Packages

#86

Post by buckhx » Wed, Dec 28, 2016, 3:12 AM UTC

walrus01 wrote: post #54

You see inflatable shipping air pillows, I see a new low cost production and unique marketing/sales method for "canned air": http://mashable.com/2016/05/01/australia-air-can-china/ polluted dystopian future here we come!

Perri-Air

Re: About Those Air Cushions in Amazon Packages

#87

Post by djrogers » Wed, Dec 28, 2016, 3:12 AM UTC

noarchy wrote: post #44

drcode wrote: post #33

How 'bout those little things they put in the middle of pizzas to stop them from getting crushed? Too bad I'm not a journalist, because that would make for an awesome story. /s

Where I live (in Canada) they tend to use balls of dough in the middle of the pizza to get the same effect, instead of the piece of plastic I've seen elsewhere.

Where in Canada? Turns out it's a pretty big country ;-) I grew up in the Vancouver area and never saw dough balls.

[1] comments like this are a bit of a peeve of mine as they contribute to the global mental picture of Canada as one homogeneous biosphere instead of a huge land mass with many different cultures and environments. Ever heard this one - "Oh, you're from Canada? My brother in law is from Canada; Jake Unrau - ever met him?"

Re: About Those Air Cushions in Amazon Packages

#88

Post by Spooky23 » Wed, Dec 28, 2016, 3:18 AM UTC

CydeWeys wrote: post #55

drcode wrote: post #33

How 'bout those little things they put in the middle of pizzas to stop them from getting crushed? Too bad I'm not a journalist, because that would make for an awesome story. /s

What's the point of this comment? Packaging/shipping technology is hugely important, because the annual amount of landfill waste involved is staggeringly large. There's also a big economic component to it. And as the article says, this is a $5.6 billion industry in the US alone that is growing larger with every passing year.

The whole premise is a guilt ridden exercise in navel gazing.

We've collectively decided that ordering everything online provides us with time and cost efficiency. Those things aren't free.

Re: About Those Air Cushions in Amazon Packages

#89

Post by walrus01 » Wed, Dec 28, 2016, 3:20 AM UTC

justinator wrote: post #9

vinhboy wrote: post #6

These little air bags makes a lot of sense to me, I wonder why it took them so long to become popular. How did everyone live through the packing peanuts phase and not realize this is a much simpler solution?

the last package peanuts I seem to remember finding in a package were disposable by putting them in compost, which seems like an advantage over plastic bags.

those are great until you send a large volume of shipments by ocean cargo somewhere, and it arrives with a nest of several hundred rats that have eaten the packing material.

Re: About Those Air Cushions in Amazon Packages

#90

Post by justinator » Wed, Dec 28, 2016, 3:25 AM UTC

Spooky23 wrote: post #78

justinator wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

the last package peanuts I seem to remember finding in a package were disposable by putting them in compost, which seems like an advantage over plastic bags.

Except you need to have a compost pile and become adept at identifying variants of packing peanuts. We actually do compost, but our pile is inactive in the winter, and dumping some mysterious product into it isn't something that I'd want to do.

The city I live in has a composting program [0], so even if I don't want to compost myself, it's compulsory. The trash bin we get is about a quarter the size of both the recycle and compost bin.

I've never had problems identifying which packing materials are compostable. Usually putting one under warm water will give it away - they're designed to be washed down the drain.

https://bouldercolorado.gov/lead/compost