Plastic pots.

Hill Walker

Why can't garden centres and nurseries reuse plastic pots? There could be a small deposit to encourage people to return them. The pots could then be reused after washing/sterilizing in a special pot cleaning machine to save time and labour.

pansyface

Our local nursery will. But only their own pots.

JoeX

Hill Walker said:

Why can't garden centres and nurseries reuse plastic pots? There could be a small deposit to encourage people to return them. The pots could then be reused after washing/sterilizing in a special pot cleaning machine to save time and labour.

The garden centres receive their produce already in pots. It’s a cheap, efficient and effective way to pot the millions of plants being distributed around the country.

Garden centres can’t pass the pots back to their suppliers because they don’t want them.

of course, there is a natural method of packaging, miniaturising and distributing plants that is utterly ecologically friendly but it won’t maintain the status quo.

Yviestevie

I reuse and reuse all the small 9cm pots that come my way.  I also find uses for the really large tree pots, in fact I buy second hand tree pots from my local nursery as I use them to put inside my ceramic display pots and change them over season by season.  I can't really lift the large pots so it saves my back.  It's the in between sizes that I find difficult.  I'm afraid most of them get put in the bin as I just don't have the space to keep them. 

AnniD

I am lucky enough to have a fairly local garden centre that takes plastic pots, seed trays,  inserts etc. for recycling. I have tried offering them on Freecycle but have either had no takers, or people have just not bothered to turn up.

Posy

Much was said last night about single use plastic pots and sacks but I must say that all my pots are used year after year and compost sacks go back and forth to the dump with large items I can't compost myself. 

nicola.parker.730

we must look at other recyclables , why not look ta the use of coffee cups we ahve a hge problem with the disposing of these ?? can they be used ?

2 point 4

When it comes to plastic pots, I have a policy of use and re-use ad infinitum until they are no longer of useable quality.  I must have ‘lost’ about 200 last year through charity plant sales and the like so am always on the look out for more without buying new.  For this reason, I love my local independent Garden Centre who ‘sell off’ their used pots and modules for peanuts or sometimes free for charitable purposes.  I picked up 61nr 4” and 1.5 litre pots plus a few modules for 50 pence yesterday.