England has one. Can’t we?

While doing research for an article on horticultural recycling for Garden Center’s Project: Green series, I was thrilled when I came across a Web site of a recycler that specializes in horticultural and agricultural recycling, Southern Agri Recycle.

I’ve learned that recyclers are the big stumbling block in recycling horticultural pots. Not that it’s their fault. Recyclers handle every industry’s recycled goods, and there are a lot of extra steps needed to successfully recycle horticultural pots.

First, the pots are made from far too many different types of plastics. Take a look at the bottom of the pots in your store, and you’ll see No. 2, No. 5 or no recycling code marks.

Those three are the most common categories, but just about all seven of the recycling codes can end up on the bottom of a pot.

Since each plastic is processed differently -- such as melting at different temperatures -- you must sort them. Then there’s the dirt problem. A light dusting doesn’t matter too much, but how many pots are crusted in mud? Just a couple of those in a large delivery to a recycler can cause the entire load to be rejected.

Which brings me back to being thrilled at finding a recycler that understands horticultural pot recycling -- it specializes in hort pots. Cool!

Then I clicked to the contact page and found that the recycler is located in southern England, not the American South. Sigh.

I couldn’t resist setting up an interview, though. I wanted to see if the model could be replicated here in the U.S. And I have to say it seems to my uneducated self that it would be very easy to do.

Are you a sustainability geek, too? Then you’ll be interested in my interview with David Jones at Southern Agri Recycle.

Interview with David Jones, Southern Agri Recycle

CM: When did you get started?

David Jones: We are quite new, only 18 months in business. My background is agricultural. The business was started on the back of a burning ban in agriculture. This meant that farmers could no longer burn plastic and cardboard.

CM: I’ve talked to a lot of people who recycle plastic here in the states, and it seems each one operates in a different way. How do you operate?

David Jones: We collect from 1,300 farms. The farmers separate the materials into the different polymers, put them in large bags and we bring them back to site. We have installed a wash plant and can now wash, granulate or shred plastics, then dry them before bagging or baling as appropriate. Items processed include chemical cans, plant pots, seed trays, poly tunnel [hoop house] covers, compost bags, film and cardboard. For plastic film, we set up a line using potato-washing equipment, shred the plastic film, then send it through a tumbler, a drying system. Clean, shredded plastic film goes straight on for extruding.

On the hard plastic side, after it’s granulated, washed and dried, bagged, it is sold for remolding into more plant pots.

CM: Did you say you use potato washers?

David Jones: Yes, for washing LDPE film. We have purchased a shredder and granulator designed for plastic. Otherwise, all other equipment started life for an agricultural purpose but has been adapted for use in our recycling business. Our system is unique because it is not off the shelf at all. We’ve put together equipment to do the job.

CM: One of the challenges to recycling horticultural pots in the U.S. is that they are made of so many different types of plastics. Is this the case there in the U.K.?

David Jones: Generally the pots you get from a garden center are all the same kind of plastic.

CM: Do you work with garden centers?

David Jones: We don’t generally pick up from garden centers. Market gardeners and nurseries deliver their plastic and cardboard waste to our site free of any charge. We do all the cleaning and all the sorting. We take just about anything from garden centers and growers -- compost bags, cardboard, shrink wrap, poly tunnel covers as well as their plant pots and seed trays.

CM: How many people work for you?

David Jones: There are eight of us including my wife who works from home and arranges all the collections of waste from farms. We have only been in business 18 months. It has been a fairly difficult 18 months but we now feel the business is financially viable. The landfill charge to put waste into the ground is increasing rapidly. Large skips (construction bins) have until the past few years gone straight into landfill. Today this is frowned upon environmentally. We have skip companies now contacting us to take their plastic waste because of the landfill prices.

CM: Do you have capacity issues?

David Jones: I’m restricted to what I can produce from the size of my building.

CM: How many garden centers send recycling to you?

David Jones: I would think around 200. Some travel quite a long way. We have plastic waste from market gardens and nurseries from Surrey, Sussex, Kent, Devon, Cornwall, London and even Manchester. Growers tend to wait until they have an artic load before delivering to us from these areas. We are of course well supported locally too.

CM: What’s an “artic load”?

David Jones: Big trailers, about 40 feet long with curtain sides.

CM: What is the end product market like in the U.K?

David Jones: The recycled plastic tends to be a percentage of new materials, unless you are making things like garden furniture. I doubt that the U.K. would keep up with demand. But there is a big market in China and India. These countries need plastic.

-- Carol

Comments

[Marshall Dirks]

Carol -

Thanks so much for doing good research to bring this story about - hopefully it will encourage someone in North American to do it as well.

Marshall

[Carol Miller]

(I received this via e-mail. CM):
Carol and everyone interested;
I urge all of you to read "How to survive on a toxic planet" by DR Steve Nugent. This unbiased book contains some mind blowing information about what our waste is doing to us and our planet. I know we all know it's not good but you'll never believe "what" is actually effected by our waste (because the government does not want us to know). Being in the agricultural industry it is of utmost importance to not only recycle but more importantly to manufacture biodegradable materials. Enough said, please read the book.
Debra

[Morton Baker]

There is several agriculture recycling companies in the USA. In Oregon alone, there is about a dozen or more. Connecticut has several. Florida has too many to count. Perhaps next time, you will do more real research before made such claims.

Telephone the good folks at Plastic, Inc., in Woodburn, Oregon, for plastic container and tray recycling.