Please Recycle Your Plastic Pots

[Phil]

I've posted this in past years, but as a reminder, please recycle your plastic pots.  It's such a shame to see them being thrown away.  We're in Encinitas and will gladly give a credit toward purchase.  Call for details.  Wherever you live, recycle them.  It's good for everyone.

Phil

619 291 4605

[SubTropicRay]

Hi Phil,

I've tried to recycle some damaged pots in the past.  The recycling truck guy always "rejects" them and puts them back in the bin.

Ray

[Patrick]

It's really a shame- I tried that once and the recycle guy just left them! I cut them up and everything. I figured out a better solution, though. Use them for when you break up those cannas/ heliconias/ gingers/ bananas/ oh, you get the picture

[aussiearoids]

Remember to re-use , reduce or recycle .

Much better to re-use a pot than to recycle it , I always think of recycling as a complete breakdown and remaking of the object , using lots of energy .. metal is recycled but at great expense . I get many people bringing back pots to the nursery , and I re-use the small pots and tubes many times for seedlings and cuttings .

[Patrick]

I wonder who or what entity it is that leaves all these pots at the dumps? Clearly there is some ignorance because 1 gallon pots are probably the most re-usable item on this planet!! And 15 gal. containers are pricey! I wonder if wholesale nurseries have any programs or are willing to take them back, aside from you, Phil.

[BS Man about Palms]

I think its mostly landscapers that see them as trash when they are done....

[Scott]

Bill - I think you're right about landscapers. The guys who put in my bamboo took the 15G pots and I wanted to keep them.

I reuse pots for scooping soil out of bags, measuring, storing stuff, potting up stuff, etc.... There's lot's of uses.

[paulgila]

there are a lot of nurseries in san diego who will give credit for merch if you bring your old plastic pots in.hunters nursery in lemon grove is one.i think from now on i'm gonna take 'em to j.music & get credit towards some PALMS!!!

[DoomsDave]

Plastic pots!

Dang!

dave

[SubTropicRay]

Micheal,

I reuse them whenever possible.  The ones I try to recycle are ones sliced open to remove a potbound palm.  I checked once before and the recycle symbol does indeed show up on the underside of the container.  It is "recycle guy ignorance" I suppose.

Ray

[PalmGuyWC]

I haul several loads of garden debris (mostly palm fronds) to the dump every year, and I always keep my eyes open for plastic pots when I'm there.  Sometimes I'm lucky, other times not.  I haven't bought plastic pots in years, and I use them over and over until they split open from age. I always look for the 2 gal pots which seem to be hard to find. It's such a shame that the landscapers are so wastefull, but I guess they are making so much money, they couldn't be bothered saving pots.

My next door neighbor is having an extensive landscape job put in by a "named" landscape architect.  One of his projects was just featured in Sunset Magazine. He came over the other day and we had a garden walk, and I was shocked that he didn't know anything about plant materials, especially palms. He wasn't even sure of what a Chamaehrops was, one of the most common palms in N. Calif.

Umm, sorry to get on a tangent.....but I never waste a pot untill it falls apart.

Dick

[Nigel]

With plastic prices going ever upwards with oil prices I cant believe that any nursery would reject the opportunity to reuse pots, its so wasteful to throw them away, and they are so expensive to buy.

[Jeff Searle]

We here, have been trying to convince landscapers for many,many years to recycle their pots. We give a credit towards plants. We do get a handful of customers that bring in thousands of pots( mostly 3gallon) on occassion. It really adds up in credit, if these landscapers would all bring in their pots. It works out great on both ends.

Jeff

[Phil]

Every time I go to the dump, I see them scattered all over the place.  The sad thing is that at our dump there's a policy that you cannot "take" anything previously dumped out of the facility with you.  I've seen them kick people out who tried to recover items.  I'm sure it's a liability issue with them, but they really get passionate about enforcing this rule.

Phil