By Merlin Lessler —<\/p>\n
I recently ordered a bookcase online. I couldn\u2019t find what I wanted in local stores, as often happens, so I was forced to go to the Internet. The bookcase came in a large, heavy box. The shelves and other components were nestled in Styrofoam. Long sheets, short sheets, half-inch wide sheets, skinny sheets, floppy sheets, peanuts. I got the components unpacked and into a disorganized pile.<\/p>\n
Then, I dealt with the Styrofoam nightmare. I cut it up to fit in the recycle bin or the garbage can. I\u2019m never sure which it should go in. Recycle rules are too complicated for me, so I decide by flipping a coin. Garbage always wins.<\/p>\n
Anyhow, I started breaking it down. I used scissors, a small saw, and my hands, tied it up with twine, now ready for disposal, from my house to the dump, to live there forever.<\/p>\n
But that wasn\u2019t the end of the nuisance. All these little bits and pieces of Styrofoam surrounded me in a blizzard. It stuck to me and everything around me. I tried sucking up the mess with a shop vac, but it\u2019s never that simple. Some of those particles hung around for weeks.<\/p>\n
My next step was to put the bookcase together with only a very limited instruction manual. Still, that issue was a cinch compared to dealing with the packing material. The only tool required was an Allen wrench, which came in the box with a bunch of fasteners, unfamiliar to me. I was used to using nails, screws, and glue, not these things. But I got it together and wondered how the packaging world became so cruel, forcing us to live with Styrofoam nightmares. <\/p>\n
There weren\u2019t many packages coming and going in most of my world. I still remember the box of chocolate chip cookies my mother sent me when I was at Camp Arrow. I was a 12 year-old, away from home for the first time. I wasn\u2019t homesick, but it was the first and still is the best package I ever received. It was rare to mail or receive a package back then. Everything we bought was local. If we couldn\u2019t find it, we didn\u2019t get it.<\/p>\n
When we sent a package, we used wadded-up newspaper to pack things in. That\u2019s hard to do today; most of us don\u2019t buy an actual newspaper and don\u2019t have a stack of them on standby. That wonderful packing (and window washing) material is gone. I remember getting some packages in the ’60s with items nestled in popcorn that was sprayed with a blue dye and came with a warning to not eat it. Some things came packed in straw, but most items were nestled in some form of paper product.<\/p>\n
The world changed, and the people in charge weren\u2019t paying attention. So we now live with a Styrofoam nightmare. I\u2019ve adjusted to the snowstorms. But I don\u2019t like it. Do you?<\/p>\n