"Do You Salvage Packing Materials?" Topic

Do you make use of the material used in commercial packaging for your miniature wargaming?

Yes!

Plastic from blister packs makes good helicopter rotors, and the fibre packing from printer cartridges is useful for mountains.

Yes, a lot of it makes interesting buildings.

Some.
Particularly if I'm in a selling off eBay phase.

Sometimes. Almost everything could be used--but when would I find the time, and where would I put it?

Some. I always save the little foam squares that Foundry used to put in there packs.

Reuse. Repurpose. Recycle.

Yep.

Eric

Yes, you never know what can be used.

Yes, but any packing materials I save are to ship out customer orders.

No, I have about two large garbage cans of it each week. Takes up too much space to store.

Often. You know the square part of a blister pack can be cut out and used to hold water for painting. Other packaging items have been painted and used as scenery.

Grelber

Some

I used to, but then I found that it was taking up way too much space. I keep a few small boxes and a bankers box full of packing peanuts on hand. The rest goes in the recycling
bin.

Yes, sometimes. Not as often as a couple years ago.

Some, most gets thrown in recycling bin.

No

Yes. Some to repurpose, some for my own packing.

Some.

I've used some blister packs for creating bunkers and pillboxes for my 15mm WWII Italians.

For Necromunda-- large chunks of styrofoam, spackled and painted, for corridor walls; large diameter cardboard tubes for a variety of toxic waste tanks; some .22LR ammo boxes come with perforated plastic panels that make perfect overhead walkways.

Yep …

Generally I do, but certainly not all packing material that passes through.

If I can think of a good use, yes. Most often its just using the plastic half of blisters as disposable mixing containers.

Sometimes. I keep more junk than I ever use. Some of it does furnish containers for mixing paint, etc. and for soaking decals.

My longest-lasting conversions: a couple of portion cups made into pillboxes and many flat clear plastic bits cut up to make artillery templates. Sometimes I even get around to labeling the templates specifically for certain scenarios, with gun type/caliber, Dedicated or General Support, etc. Makes the Artillery Phase of the game move that much faster.

Not in over 20 years. But between 1987 and 1997-ish I used to get very excited any time I saw large pieces of white Styrofoam in someone's trash.

Since GW didn't have many (any?) buildings during this period, foam packing insulation was my main source of building material.

WAAAAAAAAAYYYYYY too much. Just ask my wife.

But I am responding to your THREAD TITLE QUESTION -- which was about "SALVAGING" packing materials, as opposed to actually USING them. I do actually use them from time to time, but mostly I just… salvage them.

My wife actually brings me stuff and asks, "Can you use this?" The woman is pure gold. (And sometimes I actually say, "No, I don't think I can use that.")