A few days ago, I came across an article about the Plastiki Expedition. The Plastiki is a boat made from 12,000 plastic bottles which is sailing the oceans raising awareness about plastic pollution, particularly in the seas. Unfortunately, plastic does not biodegrade, once plastic is manufactured, it will always exist - somewhere. It may crack into small pieces but it will be there, in land fill sites and in the seas. Apparently there is an area of ocean near Hawaii that has an area polluted with plastic from all over the world that is twice the size of France! Small pieces of plastic are suspended in the sea and are referred to as mermaid's tears. Sadly these plastic fragments are being ingested by the marine life. Needless to say, it is not doing them much good. A lot of the plastic is tipped overboard from ships but lets face it, we are all guilty of plastic pollution.
So where does this fit into a gardening blog? Well, plastic was obviously on my mind when I glanced out of my kitchen window. It suddenly struck me how much plastic waste gardening creates, from plastic plant pots, labels and garden ties to plastic bags the compost comes in. Whilst I am sure keen gardeners will clean and reuse their plastic pots, most households will no doubt throw them away. Plastic plant ties are great and can be used again and again, until they snap. Then what? They get thrown away.Brown or black plastic pots really aren't attractive, so it is not surprising that people transfer their newly purchased plants into ceramic pots. Maybe if the plastic pots came in bright colours they would be more acceptable. I have got some Thyme growing in a purple plastic pot which I don't mind too much. We really do need to get away from plastic altogether though and don't even get me started on polystyrene seed trays.
I completely understand the use of plastic. It is no doubt cheap and certainly convenient, as well as practical. If plants were sold in ceramic pots there is far more scope for breakage. Paper labels would be useless as they could tear and would certainly go soggy when wet. With more packaging being made from corn starch perhaps there is some possibilities there.Unfortunately, I don't have the answers. I know one thing though, in future I will try to be far more careful about the garden products I buy and use. Why use plastic plant ties after all when you can use a piece of string or a old pair of nylon tights cut into strips?
http://www.theplastiki.com
http://recycleplasticflowerpotsandplantseedtrays.com/
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