Instagrammer shares 'brilliant' DIY for biodegradable glue made from old packing materials: 'What is this magic'

If you've ever ordered a package, you've probably opened it to find not only your item, but hundreds of (hopefully) biodegradable packing peanuts. Most times, people just toss them in the trash, and even though they can break down, it still contributes to waste in landfills.

But Instagram user Sibster (@sibster) has a clever way to put them to use: a simple DIY glue perfect for kids and crafts.

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A post shared by Sibia Torres Padilla | DIYs (@sibster)

The scoop

Sibia Torres Padilla, who specializes in low-waste and low-cost crafts, shared a video on her page demonstrating how to make a simple paste out of biodegradable packing peanuts and water.

The biodegradable packing peanuts are typically made with wheat or cornstarch and melt away with water, but you'll want to try to confirm what they are made of before proceeding. To make the glue, you just need to put a few peanuts in a jar at a time and gradually add water until you get a paste consistency. 

"If you add too much water, it might seep through your paper and give you a really wrinkly effect so I recommend adding tiny amounts of water and mixing in your peanuts until you get your paste," Padilla notes.

She also mentioned a couple of key tips, emphasizing this will only work with the biodegradable kind, not the Styrofoam-type ones. First, the glue doesn't store super well, so she recommends only making a little at a time as needed and saving any leftover peanuts for future projects. Second, the glue dries with a matte finish, so if you specifically need clear glue, it's not a total one-to-one swap. 

But otherwise, it's strong, dries in about 10 minutes, and is great for basic crafts, not to mention kid-safe and completely biodegradable. 

How it's helping

This homemade hack taps into the classic "5 Rs" of managing waste and its environmental impact. By making the paste, you're repurposing an item you already have, reducing landfill contributions. Landfills take up otherwise usable space and emit methane gas, which makes up 14.4% of human-made methane emissions, according to the EPA. 

Making the paste at home also saves a trip to the store, which would typically be by car. The EPA reports that if people cut their short car trips by just half, it can save roughly $575 million in fuel costs and almost 2 million metric tons of CO2 emissions per year, the equivalent of taking 400,000 cars off the road. This would also save money on gas as prices remain high and could replace purchasing increasingly pricey school supplies, as CNN reported in 2022 that the price of Elmer's brand glue had gone up 30% and even tape had jumped 70%. 

All that time, money, and energy can be saved just by using a humble packing peanut from a package you've already ordered. 

A similar hack shared on Reddit involved repurposing duster bags from buying sheets as bags for shoes in luggage. Another person recently shared their disbelief at receiving mail in an envelope made out of old calendar pages. 

What people are saying

Multiple people in the comments declared the hack "brilliant," with one person asking, "What is this magic!!!!" They added that they plan to try the hack because "packaging peanuts give me the ick [and] the idea of turning them into glue makes me very happy." 

"What a great idea! I never knew packing peanuts could be repurposed or composted! Thanks for sharing," another person wrote.

Another person highlighted that the kind of glue she demonstrated is sometimes used in professional settings.

"Ooh yes!! It's effectively starch paste!" they wrote. "We use this in museums to affix identifying numbers to certain objects. Never thought about making it from packing peanuts."

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