Sad Joyce, I don’t know how many times I’ve said on here and other forums about cutting every single circle from those beer thingys, I don’t think I can even look at these threads about plastics anymore, time for cyber break. ,
Gardening on the wild, windy west side of Dartmoor.
Right, here's a question. You go into the garden centre, 2 identical plants, one in a black plastic pot, the other in a super duper eco friendly pot. How much extra would you pay for the latter? ( we all know it's going to be dearer, otherwise they'd be used already ) 10%, 25%, 50%?
Not exactly a flood of responses to my question. I'm hardly surprised.
Right, here's a question. You go into the garden centre, 2 identical plants, one in a black plastic pot, the other in a super duper eco friendly pot. How much extra would you pay for the latter? ( we all know it's going to be dearer, otherwise they'd be used already ) 10%, 25%, 50%?
Not exactly a flood of responses to my question. I'm hardly surprised.
It was a perfectly reasonable question. How much extra would you pay to have an "eco friendly pot ?" as yet, nobody has said how much extra THEY would pay. My point is, it's all very well saying "THEY" should do something about it, but what are WE prepared to do? and how much extra are WE prepared to pay for it?
I watch gardeners world last night at long last and I assume this is why this thread was started:
As mentioned the black pots are manufactured from 98% recycled material the issue is with the carbon colourant they use to make them black not the plastic itself.
The reason they are changing the colour to taupe is so that the IR lamps can see them and they can be recycled with everything else they will still be made of 98 - 99% recycled plastic.
May be we should be saying to people look at us the plastics we use are made from 98% recycled material what about you?
Another issue seems to be the councils reluctance to collect black pots trays etc one reason is that they attract the least revenue return about £35.00 per tonne where clear plastic attracts about £350 per tonne.
I know and indeed do try to reduce the amount of plastic I use but I'm quite happy to use and reuse plastic pots and to answer your question Hosta yes I would be happy to pay more and if Mr Gove gets his way we will anyway as he said in the interview the government is considering introducing a tax and for sure the companies will pass that on.
"You don't stop gardening because you get old, you get old because you stop gardening." - The Hampshire Hog
Thanks @Hampshire Hog, but how much more? If "industry" knew there was a market for such products, maybe they'd get them into circulation more quickly. I never throw away plant pots until they're actually damaged beyond use. I have a batch of 9cm pots which are about 20 years old. I left them on the shelf in a greenhouse and they sort or melted out of shape a bit, which is how I know it's that batch. I have zero confidence in Gove , and this government. They can't even sort out taxing the likes of Amazon etc so they pay a fair amount in tax.
The info at the bottom regarding terracotta pots is missleading. You can recycle them at the tip where they get added to the rubble skip along with greenhouse glass etc to be used for hardcore.
We frequently get asked if flowerpots can be
recycled. The majority of flowerpots are made from polypropylene (PP),
although some are made from polystyrene. As in the case of rigid food
containers and some yogurt pots, there are few outlets for collected
material and a higher level of contamination mainly due to soil.
That
said, some garden centres do accept them for recycling. In addition,
some retailers are now selling plants that can be planted directly into
the ground while still inside their container, as the packaging is
bio-degradable."
Remember that just because something is made of 98% recycled material doesn't mean that when it is recycled itself that 98% can be recovered.
In addition,
some retailers are now selling plants that can be planted directly into
the ground while still inside their container, as the packaging is
bio-degradable."
Some of the packaging for direct planting is very similar to the material used for tea bags. That is also supposedly biodegradable but it doesn't mean it degrades quickly. It can take years to break down some materials, also biodegradable doesn't necessarily mean it is totally harmless.
Until somebody can come up with an alternative to plastic pots, which is as practical in use, it would be entirely counterproductive to ban plastic pots.
Posts
I'm hardly surprised.
My point is, it's all very well saying "THEY" should do something about it, but what are WE prepared to do? and how much extra are WE prepared to pay for it?
As mentioned the black pots are manufactured from 98% recycled material the issue is with the carbon colourant they use to make them black not the plastic itself.
The reason they are changing the colour to taupe is so that the IR lamps can see them and they can be recycled with everything else they will still be made of 98 - 99% recycled plastic.
May be we should be saying to people look at us the plastics we use are made from 98% recycled material what about you?
Another issue seems to be the councils reluctance to collect black pots trays etc one reason is that they attract the least revenue return about £35.00 per tonne where clear plastic attracts about £350 per tonne.
I know and indeed do try to reduce the amount of plastic I use but I'm quite happy to use and reuse plastic pots and to answer your question Hosta yes I would be happy to pay more and if Mr Gove gets his way we will anyway as he said in the interview the government is considering introducing a tax and for sure the companies will pass that on.
"You don't stop gardening because you get old, you get old because you stop gardening." - The Hampshire Hog
I never throw away plant pots until they're actually damaged beyond use. I have a batch of 9cm pots which are about 20 years old. I left them on the shelf in a greenhouse and they sort or melted out of shape a bit, which is how I know it's that batch.
I have zero confidence in Gove , and this government. They can't even sort out taxing the likes of Amazon etc so they pay a fair amount in tax.
"Flowerpots
We frequently get asked if flowerpots can be recycled. The majority of flowerpots are made from polypropylene (PP), although some are made from polystyrene. As in the case of rigid food containers and some yogurt pots, there are few outlets for collected material and a higher level of contamination mainly due to soil.
That said, some garden centres do accept them for recycling. In addition, some retailers are now selling plants that can be planted directly into the ground while still inside their container, as the packaging is bio-degradable."