Plants Add Happiness

Recyling of plant containers and reusing plant carriers are two of the ways in which we are working to reduce the amount of plastic sent to landfills.

Recycling Your Plastic Containers

It's definitely true that plants add beauty and benefits to the world we live in. When I tell people that I work at Wenke Greenhouses, a typical response is something about how fun it must be to work around so much beauty all the time.

Still, it's sad to see how much waste is generated from the plastic containers that are typically part of the deal when you purchase flowers. Most of the plastic waste that is brought out to the curb along with your other recycling ends up in a landfill because there is currently no system in Kalamazoo for recycling #5 and #6 type plastic with soil residue. Most of plants are grown in a lower grade of plastic (#5 and #6) that is not as easy to recycle. Even the few items that are grown in #2, higher grade plastic similar to what is used for milk cartons which can typically be recycled, end up in the landfill because of soil residue.

We're excited to tell you about something new that we are offering in conjunction with East Jordan, a major supplier of plastic containers to the Midwest horticulture industry. This past spring, we tested a system where people could bring back their empty containers to our retail store. We set up a cart outside the store, near the entrance in which customers could return their plastic containers. Many of you did bring back your empty containers. These containers were then mixed with plastic containers from our production and returned to East Jordan. They have developed a process to clean the plastic and then recycle it. Some of this plastic will end up back in our production as new containers.

I'm sure you have heard the phrase, "Reduce, Reuse and Recycle". Reducing waste has been an important part of our packaging for landscapers and internal production for several years. Some of you may have seen the Ellepots at the store. Ellepots are basically a paper wrapped around the soil which eliminates the need for a pot. They make transplanting into the ground or into containers easier, faster and reduces waste. The problem for most gardeners has been that the Ellepots are not real attractive and they are somewhat messy. They just haven't caught the attention of most gardeners. We'll have Ellepots again in the spring if you are interested.

Many of the carry trays that are part of the packaging are reused several times in our production cycle. Each carry tray costs around $.60 or more so we definitely want to reuse them where possible. Many of the carry trays that are returned from customers are also reused.

The plastic can now be efficiently collected, cleaned and recycled back into containers for plants or other products thus closing the recycling loop. This helps reduce our waste and reduces our costs. Most of our containers for spring 2009 will be partially made from recycled plastic. We hope to offer this recycling service for many of our wholesale customers in addition to our retail customers.

There is a cost for handling all these empty containers but as the price for plastic has gotten higher; the benefits of recycling have increased. East Jordan is taking a big risk by starting this new endeavor. Wenke Greenhouses is doing what we can to help ensure their success because it is a good idea and one that can positively impact the environment. We hope that you will take advantage of this recycling program also.