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People Are Just Realising You Can Be Eco-Friendly By Dissolving Packing Peanuts With Hot Water

People Are Just Realising You Can Be Eco-Friendly By Dissolving Packing Peanuts With Hot Water

This TikTok hack is helping people to look after the environment when they dispose of parcels.

Joanna Freedman

Joanna Freedman

Ever receive a parcel and feel super guilty because of the amount of packaging you have to throw away? We've certainly been feeling that way over lockdown.

The packing peanuts are always the worst - all they do is sit alongside your shopping in a box, only to be chucked away again when they reach their destination.

That's why we were pleased to discover that there's actually a much more eco-friendly way to dispose of them.

Yep, a new TikTok hack has shown they can actually be dissolved in water.

User @thattogspot is the one who discovered the hack, and shared it on her page.

In a video on the platform, photographer Jessica McGovern said that she was about to chuck all the foam peanuts away, as usual, when her husband stopped her and told her to put them in the sink instead.

She then shared footage of herself running hot water, and showed that the little cushions begun to dissolve pretty much straight away.

"I was today years old when I learnt this," she wrote.

The peanuts disappeared when wet with hot water (
TikTok/ thattogspot)

Before she knew it, Jessica's vid had over 300 comments, 3300 'likes' and 400 shares on the platform.

"Omg I had no idea either. This is life changing," wrote one person in the comments.

While another penned: "What the actual".

A third explained: "They made them water soluble a few years ago! Not all of them do this but loads do now it's great!"

Many of the new generation foam fillers tend to be made from wheat and cornstarch, and can be composted as well as dissolved in water.

There are other uses for the packing peanuts too, with one TikTok user advising the watered down starch makes a great plant food.

The packing peanuts dissolved under the tap (
TikTok/ thattogspot)

"You can water your plants with this. It's good for Orchideas for example," they said.

Packing peanuts - also known as foam peanuts, packing noodles or void fillers - are often biodegradable these days, although it's worth noting that not all of them will be.

And here we were thinking they were completely pointless!

Featured Image Credit: TikTok/ thattogspot

Topics: Life News, climate change, TikTok