Garden Hits Recycling Stride

Proceeds from the sale of the plastic timbers fund future collections. Grants also support the program.

“It is increasingly apparent that our disregard for the reuse of plant containers ends in millions of pounds of plastic being wasted into landfills each year,” says Steve Cline, manager of the Kemper Center and the founder and organizer of the Plastic Pot Recycling program.

Plans for the program in 2008 include expanding the fleet of trailers to gather material from more nurseries and garden centers, making satellite collection sites available year-round, and offering additional bins at collection centers to allow consumers to sort plastics. The garden also plans to reposition recycling trailers at the MOBOT collection site to allow drive-thru deposits throughout the year.

“Ultimately, our goal is to develop a workable system of collection and processing so that other communities can adopt a similar effort and evolve this into a common practice,” Cline says. “We are especially pleased that in the past three years (California-based) Monrovia Growers has taken a leadership step forward on behalf of the green industry and supported the experimental phase of the program. This public/private partnership enables us to continue the growth of a fundamental recycling program such as this. We look forward to other green industry support, including the container producers, as we deal with this ongoing waste issue.”

For more information on the recycling program, visit the Web site www.MOBOT.org/hort/activ/plasticpots.shtml, or call 314-577-9561. To purchase plastic timbers, call the Kemper Center at 314-577-9441.