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5 sustainable Bubble Wrap alternatives
Bubble Wrap is terrible for the environment. These are the best alternatives, including eco-friendly bubble wrap, for keeping your items safe during a move.
For many of us, popping Bubble Wrap is one of life’s greatest mundane pleasures. Bubble Wrap is also a great packing material, keeping all manner of fragile items safe during delivery and transportation. However, it’s generally unsustainable and not recyclable. If you want to keep your items safe during your move and protect the planet, consider a sustainable packing material alternative to plastic.
Honeycomb Packaging Paper
Affordable alternative
Compostable Packing Peanuts
Compost-friendly alternative
Bubble Paper
Best for sustainable poppin'
Kraft Paper Poly Mailing Envelopes
Sustainable shipping and packing
Related: Where to get moving boxes for free
Honeycomb kraft paper
Loose kraft paper might be the cheapest alternative — you can crumple it up, cut it, and when you’re done, recycle it anywhere paper products are processed. However, the honeycomb kraft paper variety is perfect for adding lightweight protection and scratch resistance while being much thinner than plastic Bubble Wrap. When cared for properly, honeycomb kraft paper can also be reused or repurposed for other projects, such as packaging for wine bottles, ceramics and gifts.
An entire roll of this packing material is 15 inches wide and under 100 feet long, yet it costs just $16. So while you get plenty to work with, any leftovers are easy to store and keep for later. Being corrugated paper, the material is pliable and works well when wrapping around odd-shaped items. It is best for protecting glass and fragile goods, but it’s important to remember that any moisture will weaken the integrity of this product.
Honeycomb is not only cheap, it's versatile, reusable and thinner than traditional Bubble Wrap.
Compostable and biodegradable packing peanuts
Most packing peanuts are made of Styrofoam, a #6 polystyrene, and a substance that cannot be remade into new products or materials. While your local shipping store, such as FedEx or Kinko’s, may accept your unwanted packing peanuts, they’ll eventually end up in a landfill. That’s where sustainable biodegradable packing peanuts come in.
At $20 per cubic square foot, these peanuts aren’t made of plastic but vegetable starch. Like Bubble Wrap, they fill the space inside your storage containers, keeping items cushioned and preventing them from moving while in transit. These biodegradable packing peanuts can actually be a better option functionally, because Styrofoam peanuts can collect dust and dirt and cause scratches on glass or other delicate materials, and produce static.
When you’re done moving and storing items, biodegradable peanuts can be safely recycled or popped into your compost bin. The material breaks down with water, ensuring fewer Styrofoam peanuts end up in landfills each time you use one of these alternatives.
Made of vegetable starch, these compostable packing peanuts are even better and more functional than their traditional Styrofoam counterparts.
Bubble paper
If your heart is still set on popping bubbles you need a product that can fulfill both roles. Thankfully, bubble paper is another option. While on the pricier side of things, at $30 for 250 feet of packing paper, this durable Bubble Wrap alternative is sustainable and poppable in its own way.
The cardboard used to make up the product already comes from recycled material, and once it has protected your goods, it can be recycled or returned to the earth by way of your compost bin. Additionally, while its being made of paper means there is a bit more heft to its material weight, the same quantity of packing potential is much more compact compared to a traditional roll of plastic Bubble Wrap, and any leftovers can be stored easily for future use.
It's a bit pricey, but this bubble paper has all the popping potential of traditional Bubble Wrap in an eco-friendly package.
Recyclable paper mailers
It might be that you don’t need to wrap many items or fill tons of void spaces. Perhaps you’re nearing the end of your move and are just a bit short on the material you need. It can feel like a waste of money and effort to invest in a whole ream of Bubble Wrap or Kraft paper just for those last few boxes.
The next best thing? A pack of recyclable paper envelopes. It might sound unusual, but these mailers are recyclable and environmentally friendly, so there’s little waste. They are also made of robust material that is perfect for either placing small collections of items into or shredding with a pair of scissors for some DIY paper void fillers. With a pack of 25 Earth-friendly envelopes setting you back $15.90, you’ll have the right amount of last-minute packing supplies ... or at least some handy leftover envelopes.
These paper envelopes are perfect for packing into tight spaces to secure loose belongings.
Reuse existing packing materials
Sometimes simply reusing the materials around you is the most sustainable approach. They may not be particularly sustainable, but if you have plastic Bubble Wrap or packing peanuts from a recent delivery, some unwanted magazines and spam mail, or even spare arts and crafts supplies, turning the things around you into the supplies needed to get the job done can be a better solution than buying something else, no matter how environmentally friend it may be.
