Keep Plastic Nursery Pots Out Of The Trash With This Simple Recycling Tip

If you love gardening and planting new flowers as the seasons change, you probably have a lot of empty plastic flower pots and trays stacked in your garden shed. While it makes sense to clean your flower pots and reuse them, sometimes, you simply have too many to be useful. You need to get rid of the excess. You may not want to throw all that plastic into the trash, but unfortunately, it might be one of your only options once the seedlings are removed. Horticultural plastics number among the common items you actually shouldn't be putting in your recycling bin. Thankfully, there is a better way to get rid of them that's also environmentally conscious. You can bring them to your nearest Lowe's Lawn & Garden section.

Lowe's stores nationwide accept used plastic nursery planters and other gardening plastics in any condition — cracked or broken, they will take them. They also accept items from anywhere, even if you didn't purchase the plants that came in them from Lowe's. Once these used plastic products land in one of their stores, they're sent to the relevant suppliers for sorting. It's these partners who determine how the items can be used. Horticultural plastics in good shape are sterilized and reused, while broken pots and trays are shredded for recycling. Some stores even put out empty pots in good condition for customers to take. Check with your local store, since the rules are management-dependent.

If you want to recycle your plastic pots and other gardening plastics at Lowe's, it's a very simple process. All you need to do is bring your empties back to the store and follow the instructions. Typically, that involves either handing them to any associate you see or depositing them in the dedicated collection area that some stores have set up. Look for shelves with signage directing you to leave trays, pots, and tags from previous purchases on them. Depending on how many pots you're bringing back, they may also ask you to leave them on the ground near the cashier booth. Note that this program is specifically designed for garden plastic. Empty plant pots or trays made from other materials won't be accepted.

One of the reasons many cities and towns do not include plastic pots and plant trays in residential curbside recycling services is because of the dirt that's often left behind in them. This dry, caked-on soil can contaminate other items, deeming them nonrecyclable and only fit for the landfill. Even if you take care to wash out the pots before throwing them in the bin, there are other issues related to the specific plastics used in manufacturing. While horticultural plastics may look similar to any other plastic container, they can contain resins that don't recycle easily. All of this makes Lowe's one of your best bets for responsibly discarding your hoard of nursery pots. They do all of the hard work for you!