If you want to start up a horticultural pot recycling program, then Steve Cline, who runs the Missouri Botanical Garden’s pot recycling program, is the man to talk to. I interviewed him as part of the Project: Green series for Garden Center Magazine, and gathered much more information than I could use in the January article.
This is my second posting of interview notes with Steve. Here’s a link to the first posting.
Carol Miller: How do you sort the plastic pots?
Steve Cline: I’m sorting [plastic pots] outside on a seasonal basis with over 100 volunteers, who put in excess of 500 hours. We have to separate plastic into the different types in order to get a product that can be sold into the market. Mixed plastic is almost worthless. Our horticultural plastic comes in three forms:
* Polystyrene, cell packs and trays
* Polypropylene (PP)
* Polyethylene (PE)
A mixture of plastics comes in and we have to sort them out. We thought we were on easy street [when we bought] the conveyor but you can’t do anything if the plastic comes out mixed.
CM: What are the main types of pots? Why are there so many?
SC: We get primarily the three we mentioned above. [The plastics are] usable if separated. Sometimes we come across pots contaminated with vinyl… we can’t use pots that have vinyl added. We exclude all metal, paper, etc. We do get the most curious containers they put plants in. And we get some really old types, but they add up to a small amount.
The percentages of each one of those three plastics may change [depending] on the operation [donating]. A greenhouse grower may bring us 3,000 pounds of one type because that’s all they are using. Garden centers that collect from the general public will have everything. The big black pots -- ethylene pots -- are expensive. People think about reusing those.
The industry is trying to get away from plastic overall. I’m looking at rice hull. I think the bio resins have a future. Time will tell what they will be good for.
I think we’re going to still be in the plastic business for a long time. Plastic is lightweight, durable and cost effective. It’s not about sins that we are committing, but about how to do it better.
CM: Do you clean the pots?
SC: By the time you hit it with the granulator, we take all the dirt out, so it fluffs out. We do not rinse them, but there are companies that do that. It may need washing, may need palletizing before it can be used again. Despite that, [our unwashed plastic] is still usable.
CM: Tell me about the collection trailers you mentioned.
SC: For two years, we were overwhelmed by all the sorting. Then this past year, we used recycling trailers that were purchased in a pilot program. They actually look like a box on wheels with a hitch on. It holds 20 cubic yards and has hatches for each compartment. Banners pointed out bins for different types of plastic. And most of the pots came in separated. One of the trailers brought us 12 tons over several deliveries from SummerWinds [Garden Center].
The pilot trailers are more attractive, can be in a front lot of a garden center instead of in the back, and get the gardener to participate by separating the pots. I’m looking for co-operators who are willing to put these on their garden center sites. I’d like to have a rotating program where you drop off one and pick up another. And I’m trying to find the money to do that. Monrovia Growers has been very good to me. They’ve been supportive in the past three years. In 2007, they assisted with the three experimental trailers.
I’d like to have 15 of the new trailers.
CM: Tell me about the granulation machine.
SC: Grants helped me purchase a granulation machine in 2004. Prior to that, I was collecting into big trash containers. I had to move the operation from the Garden to a parking lot about a block away [due to] the number of cars coming through.
In 2004, we acquired the first granulation machine. It was small but it did the job and processed 40,000 pounds. But we knew we had to scale up.
In 2006, we got a new granulator with a conveyor belt. It was a substantial investment, which was offset by multiple grants. It enabled us to process 3,000 pounds an hour with a conveyor, so we’re no longer throwing things directly down into the granulator.
Conveying was a real answer to speed. We saw 2,000 cars in 6 weekends. The grinder [granulation machine] is right there, and people could step out of the car and watch the chips come out. We want it to be inspirational, to let them see the whole thing. That’s the reason I make sure we sell products that are made from the plastics we collect.
-- Carol
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