Has anyone heard of an environmentally friendly alternative to styrofoam for bait cups? I'm hoping to pick Canadian Night Crawlers through the fall to sell as fishing bait. But I can't find packaging that will sufficiently insulate the worms while maintaining the lightweight compact qualities of the styrofoam cups that fisherman have grown accustomed to using. There must be something out there?

Are you talking made from recycled materials or biodegradable? There's a few lines of biodegradable stuff out there that's mainly in the form of drinking cups and bowls right now and they are very pricey compared to conventional bait ccontainers.

I have tried a few times to find what you are describing avid, but so far have not come up with anything. All I have been able to find are just what tim has mentioned and there would be no way I could compete or stay in the bait business if I went that route right now.

I would like to find something though. I would tie in much better with my castings, potting soil, and other organic gardening supplies. And it would give me one more competitive advantage on the bait side of my business.

Thanks Tim and Dave,
You were correct in assuming I meant biodegradable bait cups. It seems so wrong to use Styrofoam when my whole business revolves around composting and natural soil amendments etc. I'll keep looking and will post what I find when I find a feasible alternative.
Best,
Avid

The ones that I've seen on the net are mainly 12 oz. regular drinking cups and the very shallow bowls & plates. Some are cornstarch and some are from sugar cane wastes. They're supposed to withstand boiling water
but with a price a little high for only 50 containers. If you have the right market in your area though you might want to check into it. Some areas and some people might be willing to pay a little more for that enviromental factor.
A couple years ago almost everything that I received from several companies was using the cornstarch peanuts as packing material. Lately I haven't received anything with those; back to either the styrofoam pellets or the tubular stuff. That might have become a cost factor for some of the companies. I wish some company would send me some as I want to try them for worm feed. The area in my African beds where I feed them a little corn flour is where all the babies congregate after they hatch.

Thanks Tim,
I've seen a few brands of the corn syrup and cornstarch cups, but I don't think they'll insulate the CNCs enough. The sugar cane might be the best bet to try. I'll keep you posted. I do think people are willing to pay more for biodegradable options as long as they work as well as the styrofoam.

I wonder how long it'd take for the worms to break down the biodegradable stuff? You've made an excellent point. It would be very cool if the worms could eat their own packaging! I guess there'd have to be a significant time factor to allow proper storage for a couple weeks. Time for some experimenting!