What to do with the excess plastic containers that are used to grow plants in has always been a dilemma. This has been addressed before, with one company in
This is great news. In the past we just couldn’t take back the pots people wanted to return. We would end up with a giant pile of pots we just couldn’t use quickly enough. Now we can offer to take back the empty cell packs, gallon, and larger pots from the customer once they have finished their planting. I would like to encourage that they only bring back the pots from plants they have bought from us, but we won’t get upset if a Home Depot pot or two shows up.
I don’t know if Sierra Disposal realizes the amount of plastic cans a nursery can end up with. For now we will see if we can fit them in the hopper we have, but I could see having a dedicated container just for the pots. Will start with this and see what happens.
Do other waste collection companies offer this to nurseries? What do other nurseries do with the empty pots they can’t use in their operation?
For many years we’ve allowed customers to bring back any pots they have, and let anybody else take any they want. We keep an ongoing pile in our parking lot. Keeping it cleaned up and orderly is a bit of a hassle, but it makes people feel good to have a place to take them. When we get too many, we call the local arboretum and they come over and clean us out.
The city of Davis encourages recycling if pots aren’t reused, and has this information link:
http://www.city.davis.ca.us/pw/recycle/rigidplastics.cfm
Comment by Don Shor — February 8, 2008 @ 1:21 pm
Like Don, we’ve taken back any and all pots from our customers since we started our business. Our experience has been similar to what he states.
What we couldn’t reuse used to get thrown out with our garbage.
In the last few years, we’ve participated in a pilot pot recycling program coordinated by the Minnesota Nursery and Landscape Association.
By all accounts it’s been successful and continues to grow.
More information here:
http://www.gardenminnesota.com/recycling_program.htm
Cheers.
Comment by Jay — February 8, 2008 @ 2:08 pm
I give lots of those pots away on our local Freecycle group. Sometimes I just put a box full at the end of the driveway and someone passing will stop and pick them up.
Comment by Crafty Gardener — February 8, 2008 @ 2:50 pm
Since we grow almost all of our cacti and succulents in terra cotta pots, we don’t get many people bring them back, though we will accept them, as well as plastic pots from our customers for reuse-recycle.
Unfortunately Berkeley’s recycling will not take garden pots, even if it is made of one of the two kinds of plastic they do accept…. So the gallon and larger plastic pots we take back, we are passing along to a couple of small wholesale growers we know that are happy to reuse them. Smaller pots we pass on to our “local volunteer nursery” that is working with local schools and rehab projects.
For the small landscape succulents and California Native plants we grow, we are using 3 and 4 inch coir fiber pots. They are sturdier than Jiffy pots with a longer “planted” shelf life, but are still plant-able straight in the ground. We are also working aggressively to switch our gallon production to rice-hull compost-able pots. Unfortunately it is a challenge to find a reliable source that will sell less than truck load… even a pallet of 8000 pots is a lot a of pots for a small nursery like us to have to warehouse for a couple of years until they are used up…
Comment by Hap — February 8, 2008 @ 7:48 pm
What size pots are you talking about and would you consider selling them? I’m looking for used pots, trays, plug trays, etc.
Comment by Shannon — February 11, 2008 @ 10:37 am
We do a lot of re-using of pots here at our farm/nursery, and we do accept pots back from customers. We try to tell people that we really prefer to just take back the pots that we sell our plants in, as I use them specifically because they are sturdy and easy to wash out and re-use many times over. (Green Kord 4.5″ from are the ones I use- more expensive per piece, but those cheaper flimsy ones often crack after one use.)
Some people bring back the pots they bought their plants in all rinsed out and beautiful, others bring them back mostly brushed off, in a stack of other assorted pots (some of them broken!) and thrust them at us saying “I thought I’d just bring you all these others so that you can re-use them too!” I know that I am really acting as a disposal site for these folks, but it doesn’t happen too often, and unless they are trying to pass off a huge pile of rubbish on me, I will smile and take them, and add them to the pile of broken or otherwise undesirable pots that we will at some point load into the truck and take with us on a supply run into Portland (Oregon) where there is a very handy program set up to deal with nursery pots:
http://www.crackedpots.org/events_RePot.cfm
I’m not entirely sure what they DO with the pots they take in, I need to follow up and find out. However, it seems that if there are communities out there that can figure out how to recycle these containers, others ought to be able to figure it out too. I find it interesting that Davis, CA accepts such containers for recycling, but Berkeley, CA does not! Having lived in both communities, I would have figured Berkeley for the one to be leading the field in this area.
Most gardeners that I know struggle with their nursery pot stashes, and agonize over every one they have to toss in the trash, but for most people there aren’t many other options.
Comment by Teresa — February 13, 2008 @ 1:47 pm
Hi Trey,
We take the pots back, but the smaller ones usually end up at the dump. I am told our landfill place sorts the plastic. We re use teh 5 gallon cans for roses and fruit trees, and the larger ones are stacked for whatever.
Sweetwater Farms has been emptying a large bin they provided for us monthly. They take the plastic film wrap and cardboard. That has been nice. I need to find out more abou them and other material they may collect.
They come to us in Napa….
Comment by Tina — February 14, 2008 @ 6:44 am
Shannon,
Yes, I would be interested in selling or having you pick up pots. Give me a call or e-mail.
Comment by Trey Pitsenberger — February 14, 2008 @ 8:48 am
I’m not a nursery owner, but I am a consumer. I have about 300 garden pots from pony packs up to 25 gallon and I’m at a lost as to what to do with them. Neither of the 3 nurseries I purchase from need nor want my used pots.
It would be nice if there was a comprehensive statewide effort to reduce the waste of these pots, but barring that, I’m looking for anyone who can take my pots and recycle them. I’m actually really surprised that there is no concerted effort among nursery owners (do you guys have an association?) where you can direct gardeners to dump them.
Comment by faboo mama — March 17, 2008 @ 12:49 pm
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