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Horticultural plastics
Does anyone else get as frustrated as I do with plastic items for use in the garden? I've just been cleaning pots and trays in readiness for the new season and a large number are starting to disintegrate, presumably because they are bio-degradable in some form. Plastic cloches and mini-greenhouses also disintegrate after only a few years, and whilst being a fan of bio-degradable plastic when used elsewhere, such as shopping bags, it does seem odd the amount of garden equipment that breaks down in a short time. Most gardeners, by the very nature of their hobby, are environmentally-aware and I would be interested to know whether other growers seem to be suffering as much as I have lately.
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I have been sorting out as well, the number of pots that have just snapped, with regards to the plastic greenhouses, I find the wind rips them or the zips go, I have bought lots of replacement covers in the past, never kept one long enough to disintegrate.
The seed trays (of which I shouldn't have bought cheap ones) split as soon as you pick them up.
yes,a lot of plastic after a time breaks and splits not as good as terracotta or wood but nothing lasts for ever ,and I hate seeing bits of plastics and labels lying around that don't break down and disappear but stay forever in the ground.
Apparently most of these things are made from polypropylene which tends to become hard, unflexible and brittle after being exposed to sunlight/weather for a certain length of time unless they contain UV-stabilizers. I suspect most gardening stuff does not contain this to keep the price down. We used have PP ropes on our boat which just frayed and disintegrated after a couple of years outside.
And you will notice that the recycle emblem is missing on most seed trays
S they go into land fill kind of defeats the purpose
Derek