It feels weird talking about reducing pots for plants! Wonderful, glorious, green plants. But it’s always just struck me as weird how these plants are purchased, transported home, repotted, and then have left this plastic pot waste behind. How can we do this differently? Also, I know the tempting feeling to acquire more and more plants. And if you really have the time and knowledge to care for them, that’s great. But, if you’re a newbie or you often get distracted at poor plants’ expense, maybe hold back from purchasing more than you can care for. Just a thought…. That being said, I’ve become an absolute sucker for houseplants, so I get it. Lately, I’ve been experimenting with propagating plants, which is loads of fun and another way to have more plants without worrying about these little pots.
REDUCE
I think plants are great, but it seems that even in the most down-home, local, organic plant place, you’re dealing with these darned plastic pots. So, a lot of what I’m going to say about reducing will just tie in with reusing in the next section. But, what I will say here is this little tangent: Not all plants are created equal. Think about where you’re buying your plants from and if that’s the kind of place you’d like to support. What kind of soil have they used? What kind of growth hormones have they used? See if you can locate a local seller who uses good practices and really loves what they’re doing. Often times, people hold “plant sales” at their homes in the spring, just as one might hold a yard sale. Propagating your own plants ( as mentioned above) is another great way to reduce the waste of these plastic pots.
REUSE
A lot of ideas I’ve seen on reusing these plastic planting pots in new ways are probably things I wouldn’t actually do… The ideas that would be the most likely involve the multi-sectioned pots. After cleaning them out, they could be used to sort screws or nails or they could be used to teach a child color sorting or money sorting. I also heard some people who use these pots as a sort of filler in very large pots to take up some soil space.
One of my favorite ideas is going back to where you bought the plant, especially if it was a local grower, and seeing if they can reuse them for a new plant. Better yet, though, reuse the plastic pots to help you as you get new cuttings started. I recently asked ReStore if they’d take a donation of plastic planting pots, and they accepted a stack of them. You can also offer the pots up on a site like Freecycle to see if anyone is interested. Maybe try calling around to some local nurseries too. If you happen to work with kids at a school or community setting, it would be super awesome to teach them about propagating plants and then use it as a fundraiser once the plants have grown. This would be an instance where you could be reusing plastic pots during your growing and selling.
RECYCLE?
You’d have to check with your local recycling center or curbside recycling to see if these are recyclable in your area. Don’t be shy; you can do it. Just remember, throwing the plastic pots into a recycling bin without checking first does not mean you’ve done your environmental part. In fact, it could just mean creating more work for the recycling center. Sometimes, large home improvement-type stores will have their own plastic pot recycling option too, so keep your eyes open for that as an option as well.
ENDING THOUGHTS
Those plastic pots seem to be everywhere, especially in planting season. Maybe we’ll find a better way of doing this soon. In the meantime, my suggestions are to be smart about the plants you buy and from where, offer the pots to growers who might be able to use them, or use them for your own growing and giving away. And lastly, check with local recycling to see if that’s an option.
Thank you for being here! Your actions can and will make a difference.