Sometimes. even though something is cheaper, more practical, more efficient, we should still find ways to work without it, for the sake of the planet - like leaded petrol for example
B3 - pay attention. They are made from recycled plastics. They can be recycled again but the councils need to invest in the equipment to do it. The UK generally doesn't. Other countries can and do.
My local council is teeny compared to most British ones but all packaging goes in the recycling bag - not just plastic bottles, cans and tetra pak - and we can take plant pots to the recycling centre for separate collection and processing or, if we have no transport, put them in the yellow bag for sorting and processing.
Vendée - 20kms from Atlantic coast.
"The price good men (and women) pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men (and women)."
Some very laudable aims on this thread, and yes we can all do something to help, but I am afraid it is just naive to think that tomorrow we could stop using plastic pots. In the real world change happens slowly. IMO coir pots not a solution to anything: firstly would have to tool up factories to make them, they are much more expensive, they are not robust enough for the plant potting machinery and why would anyone take the risk, when the plastic manufacturers would win. Paper and wax pots: very difficult to recycle, can't separate the components, no incentive for anyone to bother. At least we are starting to try to find a solution.
How can you lie there and think of England When you don't even know who's in the team
Does nobody want to consider the lifecycle of these so-called alternatives? A plastic pot can be used again and again, coir needs to be remanufactured every use. Using coir over a ten year period is MASSIVELY worse for this planet than using plastic, for example.
Did anyone read the article in GW saying mastic pots would be easier to recycle in future? Don't have article to hand but thought it seemed encouraging! I re use all my pots many times. I also contribute to a charity that removes rubbish from the oceans. It is better to light a candle than to curse the darkness!
I was interested to see the article on GW last Friday, when they showed plastic pots being trialled in a different colour to black, which apparently has carbon in it which the recycling machines cannot detect. If this works so that pots can be recycled, that will possibly help to solve the problem. Some plants are already being sold in bright colours so why not all? However the industry is going to use up all its stocks of black pots first so it could take a year or so.
I have a mountain of plant pots, which I haved saved and re-use many times. I was tryng to sort them yesterday but it is an infuriating job as there are so many slightly varying designs, even in the same size pots, that it makes them stack unevenly.
I'm sure we could manage with a few standard sizes in the same design.
There are ones with tapered sides and ones with straight that won't fit together at all and there are 1/2 and 3/4 pots that fit together closely until you find that one is actually a smaller size and it won't slide out again, or accept another, and any number of different drainage hole arrangements that don't fit each other. Rant over!
Yes, inconsistent sizing is a PITA but I did find that the shelving frames from deceased, disrobed mini plastic greenhouses were very useful for sorting and storing. Haven't any here tho so need a new system.....
Vendée - 20kms from Atlantic coast.
"The price good men (and women) pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men (and women)."
Posts
My local council is teeny compared to most British ones but all packaging goes in the recycling bag - not just plastic bottles, cans and tetra pak - and we can take plant pots to the recycling centre for separate collection and processing or, if we have no transport, put them in the yellow bag for sorting and processing.
In the real world change happens slowly.
IMO coir pots not a solution to anything: firstly would have to tool up factories to make them, they are much more expensive, they are not robust enough for the plant potting machinery and why would anyone take the risk, when the plastic manufacturers would win.
Paper and wax pots: very difficult to recycle, can't separate the components, no incentive for anyone to bother.
At least we are starting to try to find a solution.
When you don't even know who's in the team
S.Yorkshire/Derbyshire border