If possible keep the lighthouse packaging original as possible. Peanuts are probably the least concern for keeping, since to this day they are still available. I don’t think you can still get the original peanut shaped pink and green any more. But, I am positive that not having original peanuts won’t affect the value. When the day happens that peanuts are made of some other material I think then it will start being important.

I keep all my Styrofoam inserts. Since they are molded for each individual lighthouse that makes them special and irreplaceable, totally different from peanuts.

Before I would throw out any inserts. I would take them and put them in garbage bags and stack them buy a tree or the house. They will never decay, so weather isn’t a problem. They could even handle a Florida 150 degree attic. That’s where mine are.