I have a confession. Like many keen gardeners, behind my garden shed there is an ever-growing pile of used plastic plant pots that I have been accumulating (and ignoring ) for years.
This build up is partly because I like to keep a few pots on hand for propagation and moving plants, but mostly because I know that putting them in the bin takes them straight to landfill. But I also know that the material recycling facilities that sort the co-mingled recycling bins cannot identify plastic pots as recyclable, so if I put them in the recycling bin, they also finish in landfill.
One way to avoid my pile up would be to use biodegradable pots. The technology has been around for years, but the nursery industry has faced a number of logistical challenges that have prevented their commercial use. The pots are often porous and degrade, meaning that plant quality control is problematic, and transport is near impossible. Additionally, materials like coir have to be imported to support this linear system.
Whilst plastics such as polypropylene are sourced originally using oil and fossil fuels, there is now enough material in the system to sustain a circular system of recovery and reuse.
Polypropylene, like glass, is highly recyclable with near 100% recoverability. It is identified by the number ‘5’ in the recycling triangle symbol, sometimes labelled as ‘PP5’.
The problem is getting the material back to the recyclers and pot makers from all of us gardeners. You can take your pots to the tip, but wouldn’t it be good if there was a network of garden centres where you could drop off your used pots when you are shopping for your seeds and plants? Well, now there is with a national collection scheme rolling out across the country.
Diggers is proud to be involved in this scheme and our Diggers garden shops in Victoria are now collection locations, so you can bring in all your old plastic pots and labels (look for the PP5 triangle) to us and we’ll return them to the pot makers via our production nursery. That’s if there’s any room left after I drop mine off!
For members who can’t get to a Diggers garden shop, there are more and more sites across the country everyday as new partner businesses and collection sites join in.
For more information on the program and to locate drop-off locations near you, visit www.pp5.com.au
