Reusing styrofoam packing for bean bag fill

Forums › Off topic › Reusing styrofoam packing for bean bag fill

Lizard1977

2133 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 624

ID Verified

#293954 24-Feb-2022 09:24

Random question for the day - can anyone think of an efficient way to break up styrofoam packing into small pieces to be used in a bean bag?

I have a lot of the stuff lying around after I moved house, and it's hard to recycle and awful to send to landfill. I'm keen to get a couple of bean bags, and wondered if I could use the styrofoam in place of buying "virgin" styrofoam beans. But I don't fancy spending hours breaking it up by hand - anyone have any clever ideas for how to break it up into small "bean" sized pieces without making a huge mess?

insane

3324 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 1006

ID Verified

Trusted

2degrees

Subscriber

#2873643 24-Feb-2022 09:35

Put that magic bullet or food processor to good use? Put the pile in a small room and roll in the lawn mower? Place small chunks into the beanbag and invite kids over for a piñatas contest?

Sounds like it's not worth the time or effort, though I have heard that petrol can melt it on contact... but sounds way way too dangerous to try at scale!

lxsw20

3689 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 2174

Subscriber

#2873658 24-Feb-2022 09:56

I don't think you'd be able to get it consistent enough to make a good bean bag filling.

The Mitre 10 here in Dunedin takes styrofoam in a big bin out the front of the shop. Expol then turn it into insulation. So maybe call around, as I don't believe it is that hard to recycle.

1101

3141 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 1143

#2873746 24-Feb-2022 11:08

I never knew Mitre10 accepted it
https://www.mitre10.co.nz/news/expol-recycling-cubes

Lizard1977

2133 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 624

ID Verified

#2873768 24-Feb-2022 11:17

That is good to know about Mitre 10. Not in Palmerston North yet, unfortunately. There used to be a place out in Kelvin Grove that accepted polystyrene and used it to make insulation, but I'm not sure if they still do. It used to get really full around Christmas/New Years, and got really messy sometimes - I think they may have abandoned it as a result.

As others have said, it might be hard to get it consistent enough for comfortable use, but I figured it could be worth a shot - worst case, I end up with a lot of smaller pieces and they still need to be disposed of. Provided I can find a simple way to contain it so it doesn't just blow away, it might be worth a go. The food processor might take a while (and leave a bad taste behind), and the lawn mower sounds really messy. But I did just wonder about using a weed whacker in a large cardboard box (covered, with the weed whacker handle sticking out). If I put in a large enough quantity then it should work similar to the food processor. Might give that a try this weekend.

neb

11294 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 10018

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#2874054 24-Feb-2022 14:09

Lizard1977:
Random question for the day - can anyone think of an efficient way to break up styrofoam packing into small pieces to be used in a bean bag?

Do you need to? Just get a bag of styrofoam beans and mix 50:50 with the peanuts, eventually they'll all compact down anyway so you shouldn't notice much difference.

Lizard1977

2133 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 624

ID Verified

#2874173 24-Feb-2022 17:07

The packaging I've got are large sheets or blocks, not beans or peanuts, so they need to break down into small pieces before they would be any kind of comfortable. Probably doesn't have to be as small as the pea-sized beans you get in store, but should be smaller than a finger-sized chunk. I would expect over time that they will break away into smaller pieces anyway.

New World

Shop on-line at New World now for your groceries (affiliate link).

Geektastic

18009 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 8465

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#2874681 25-Feb-2022 12:19

Give it to my dogs....

Lizard1977

2133 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 624

ID Verified

#2876178 28-Feb-2022 11:53

Lizard1977:

I did just wonder about using a weed whacker in a large cardboard box (covered, with the weed whacker handle sticking out). If I put in a large enough quantity then it should work similar to the food processor. Might give that a try this weekend.

Yeah, that didn't work so well.

The polystyrene did break up, but more of a cloud than into small pieces. The cardboard box I was using also got a bit beat up (which I expected, but not as quickly as it did), so I could see if I continued I was going to destroy the box. I gave it 5-10 mins and then gave up. Oh well - I'll just have to get rid of this packaging and find some actual beans for a bean bag.

everettpsycho

668 posts

Ultimate Geek
+1 received by user: 270

#2876186 28-Feb-2022 12:01

Purely based on watching the news and seeing the women in the park in Ukraine making Molotov cocktails, have you tried grating it?