The Truth About Divers Direct's Packing Material

Hi guys, gals, and everyone in between! Let’s talk about packing peanuts. Yes, we know, it’s a thrilling subject, but hopefully you’ll find here that packing peanuts can be a bit more interesting than you think.

First of all, why do we need these “packing peanuts”? Well, you amazing people order cool stuff from us. We send that stuff out, but first, we need to add some packing peanuts to the box. If we don’t add them, your new gear will flop around inside that box getting banged up and bruised in every which-a-way and you won’t be too thrilled about your beaten up package and potentially damaged gear. So we need these peanuts, you see, to make sure your package gets to you as safely as possible with you taking whatever it is out of the peanuts looking just as clean and new as it did when we packed it.

Of course, you may already be aware of the harmful effects of Styrofoam on our planet and your health. It’s really, really bad. It never naturally breaks down, it’s toxic to humans and animals, and it’s one of the leading landfill fillers and ocean pollutants out there—next to single use plastics, of course. And those are just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to how harmful Styrofoam is to our earth, oceans, and ozone layer.

So when you received your adventure gear from Divers Direct, you may have been a little confused, peeved, or outright enraged when you found all the foam-like packing peanuts keeping your gear safe. Now, take ten deep breaths and unwad your undies because we want you to do a little experiment for us before you write us an angry letter.

First, grab a bowl of water. Then, take one of those little packing peanuts and place it in the water. Begin to massage the packing peanut in the water and feel it dissolve in moments. It won’t take long for the peanut to disappear completely and the water won’t be contaminated from the peanut. In fact, you could add these little peanuts to your compost pile because they are 100% compostable since they’re made from the renewable resource, vegetable starch. So you can toss these little peanuts in your bin and not feel a bit bad about doing so, you can stick them in your compost pile, and feel free to reuse them for other things like packing gifts, for moving day, or use as winter party decor.

Now that you know that the packing materials that came along with your cool new dive gear are safe for you and the environment, you’ll be extra excited to hear that the company that supplies this amazing compostable packing foam to us supports and sponsors multiple environmental conservationist organizations as well. Storopack is not only founded in the mission to create sustainable and environmentally-friendly packing products, but they’re part of the Alliance to End Plastic Waste, the Big Blue Ocean cleanup program, and the Operation Clean Sweep initiative. 

So basically, you can not only rejoice that your new dive or beach gear just got to you, you can use the totally biodegradable packing peanuts as confetti to celebrate sustainability and earth-friendly practices at the same time!