I’m on a medication that gets delivered to me in a dramatically over packaged way every two weeks. Part of this packaging is a styrofoam cooler about 27x22x25cm and two unlabeled cold packs.

I currently have 7 of these and expect to be getting them for the rest of my life. Aside from just tossing them, do any of you lot have suggestions for what i can do with all these coolers?

  • MedicsOfAnarchy@lemmy.world
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    7 days ago

    Chop the Styrofoam into little pieces. Place in glass bottle. When the time is right, add gasoline. Now you have napalm. Rag for wick./s <-- this means I’m just kidding and you should never, ever do this or throw it at fascists.

  • Snailpope@lemmy.world
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    7 days ago

    Donate to a local food bank, homeless shelter, meals on wheels. Styrofoam containers can be used to store or transport hot or cold foods to those in need.

  • Bell@lemmy.world
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    7 days ago

    A quick check at amazon shows these costing about $14 each, no doubt much less in bulk but still expensive. Perhaps inquire with the shipper if they would accept them for reuse if cleaned. If the shipper is friendly they might consider setting up a program to collect these from your city and return them for reuse. The shipper could save considerably on costs and you might have found a new business.

    • dohpaz42@lemmy.world
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      7 days ago

      At today’s interest rates and inflation, this is the only viable solution.

      ~How much can I get for selling a kidney on the black market?~

  • Brkdncr@lemmy.world
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    7 days ago

    frustrating. I was also getting a steady supply of ice packs. One time one of the ice packs said it could be used as plant fertilizer and I was happy to do so but never saw another one like that.

    I take my trash to a transfer station. The amount of single-use stuff we throw away is frightening.

    I never came up with an answer. I asked my neighbors on an app and they had similar issues with chilled medical delivery.

  • Lasherz@lemmy.world
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    6 days ago

    Depending on the density of the Styrofoam, it can be used as a rainfall simulator for a greenhouse. Water drips through some Styrofoam in a very random way.

    • Postmortal_Pop@lemmy.worldOP
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      6 days ago

      As much as I’d love that for a small greenhouse, these probably wouldn’t work. They’re almost 5cm thick and tight enough that I’ve stood on them without compression or denting.

      • Lasherz@lemmy.world
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        6 days ago

        May be worth running water over one just in case if you are interested in pursuing it. I was so confident that a Styrofoam container for my humira meds would hold water that I filled it up and started walking before realizing it was dripping all over me.

        • Postmortal_Pop@lemmy.worldOP
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          5 days ago

          Hey, we’re med buddies! Well now I definitely have to at least fill it with water, I’ve got a lot of tropical plants that would love a good rain.

  • NABDad@lemmy.world
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    7 days ago

    If they are the right kind of Styrofoam, they can be recycled. See if there’s someplace near you that takes them.

  • Scott@sh.itjust.works
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    7 days ago

    You could keep them to pack your own food into encase of a power outage. I assume this nest together so they wouldn’t take up much room.

    Likely not something you will do but I found this interesting: There is an electronics business in the UK who bought a machine to break up styrofoam into small bit. They also have a steady supply of the stuff. They paid for the machine by selling the styrofoam as blown-in insulation.

  • GrumpyFortuneCat@sh.itjust.works
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    7 days ago

    Make some styrofoam swamp coolers. My AC is not catching up this summer and I have a few of these due to some eyedrops I’ve been getting shipped to me. I’m seriously considering building one until I get my AC serviced when it gets cooler.

    • silly goose meekah@lemmy.world
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      7 days ago

      Personally I really don’t think swamp coolers are worth it. If you wanna evaporate water to cool off, do it right on your skin using a damp towel instead of making the air all swampy for a slightly cool breeze. Towel+regular fan is much more effective imo

    • Postmortal_Pop@lemmy.worldOP
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      7 days ago

      I’d love that if it weren’t so humid here that they’re functionally useless. Though I am thinking about using them to insulate my attic to reduce heat transfer.