I used to feel guilty when I planted vegetable and flower seedlings and had to throw away the plastic trays and seedling pots into the landfill rubbish because they couldn’t be recycled.
Fortunately, changes began to happen. In 2021 during lockdown it was hard to get any plant seedlings despite having loads of time for gardening. Then one day shopping in PaknSave Royal Oak I discovered a stand with plant seedlings in the middle of the store. I was delighted to find a variety of vegetable, herb and flower seedlings at a good price and immediately bought some.
It was a wonderful introduction to Awapuni Nurseries and since then when in store I always stop and browse to see what selection they have. I’ve tried out several (new to me) vegetable varieties and I am hooked on growing sprouting broccoli- keeps on sprouting for ages and is prolific. Best of all the plant seedlings are wrapped in newspaper and secured with a rubber band. The plants go into the garden, the newspaper goes into the compost heap and the rubber band is recycled! Awapuni Nurseries will courier plants to you, visit www.awapuni.co.nz
Kings Garden Centre in Remuera started a swap-a-pot station where they provided a large bin where people could drop off plastic pots for others to use.
Then Mitre 10 joined in and started a recycling initiative whereby clean plastic pots with a 5 symbol could be dropped off in a bin instore. The pots are shredded then turned into new plastic plant pots. Progress! See www.mitre10.co.nz/potrecycling for more info.
As a keen gardener its great to have a variety of options that are recycling friendly.
