Ever wonder what to do with the plastic garden pots, hanging baskets, polystyrene cell packs and trays that you accumulate after a season of gardening? You can help reduce the amount of horticultural waste by bringing these items to the Missouri Botanical Garden and other collection sites around St. Louis City and County to be recycled.
The Missouri Botanical Garden operates the most extensive public garden recycling program in the nation. Last year, the Garden’s Plastic Pot Recycling program collected 130,000 pounds of horticultural waste; to date, this has saved more than 800,000 pounds from landfills. It’s easy to participate in this eco-minded endeavor. Just follow these easy steps!
1. Collect and sort your plastic gardening containers into cell packs, pots, and trays. Then, shake soil and rocks out of the containers, and remove all metal hangers, rings or any other foreign materials.
2. Bring them to the Garden’s Monsanto Center or your nearest participating satellite garden center location. (Click here to see a list of satellite locations.)
After grinding the containers into chips, they are marketed to manufacturers of plastic lumber, retaining wall ties or other recycled products. (Plastic timbers are water and pest resistant and can be cut and drilled similar to wooden lumber. They outlast traditional wooden railroad ties that have a life span of only ten to 15 years.)
The Missouri Botanical Collection site will be open until October 31, 2010. The satellite locations will be collecting the containers through September 30, 2010. For more information, visit http://www.mobot.org/plasticpotrecycling.
