Plastic Pots and where to recycle them

markie6657

Good Morning,
I'm in the process of clearing my mother's garden and she has quite literally hundreds and hundreds of plastic pots and the question is how do I get them recycled? I've offloaded a lot with Wyevale previously but they no longer accept them, I've been in touch with a company in Hampshire who used to have scheme going with garden centres however the plug was pulled on that due to the amount of people who abused it by fly-tipping at those centres. The guy told me that they could only recycle PP plant pots only and if I paid to get them transported they'd accept them but I'm not going to do that plus I haven't the time to sort them. He went as far as to say just put them in my wheelie bin and let the council treat them and send them off for RDF ( waste to energy)

I don't want to do that but I'll have little option if there are no other solutions currently available, any suggestions would be much appreciated, thank you

Pete.8

Our council accepts plastic pots in the recyclable waste and as far as I understand the black pots end up in landfill any other colour gets recycled. I re-use them until they've had it then they go in the recycle bag
My neighbour took 100 or more and offloaded them at a car boot sale.

Dovefromabove

Check with your local authority recycling scheme ... most have details online about what they can accept and which bin to put it in or which site to take it to. 

At this time of year you may be able to get rid of some via Freecycle... keen gardeners will need lots of pots when their seedlings start to grow. 

Good luck 😀 

AnniD

I was going to suggest Freecycle as well, it's certainly worth a try. At this time of year l have seen a couple of requests for pots, where people are starting out or setting up various community projects. About a year ago, Haskins and Stewart's garden centres in Hampshire were taking in plastic pots. I don't know how far they are from you, but it may be worth giving them a call. Sorry, just assumed you were in Hampshire, but re- reading your post, maybe not ? If you are in Gloucestershire l know of somewhere that takes them. 

markie6657

Thank you for the replies so far, have been on Freecycle a week or so no interest whatsoever but I'll leave them on there just in case.I expect someone will come up with an idea for them in the future and make an absolute fortune!

Lyn

I got rid of some by putting them outside by the front gate with a sign saying ‘Free, please take.’  

AnniD

The only other thing l can think of is to maybe contact any local schools with gardening clubs. They probably have enough from parents or grandparents, but it might be worth a try.

pansyface

Yes, I was going to suggest the front gate, with some carrier bags to help with removal. 

Or email your local allotment or community garden group.