Recycling Resources

Jennifer D. White

Resources for Recycling Horticultural Plastics
The following is a compilation of recycling programs and companies that our readers have used for horticultural plastic recycling. This list is a work in progress. Please e-mail jwhite@ballpublishing.com with any additions or changes. We suggest you contact individual programs, as information and details may change.

Regional Collection Programs

New Jersey Agricultural Recycling Programs
Programs for greenhouse films, pesticide containers, pots and trays, and drip irrigation tape.
Recycling Program Manager: Karen Kritz
Tel: (609) 292-5536
Web site: http://www.nj.gov/agriculture/divisions/md/prog/recycling.html

Minnesota Nursery & Landscape Association
Enviro-911 program for MNLA member businesses recycles pots, hanging baskets, greenhouse poly and irrigation poly. Eight different MNLA businesses serve as dropoff points for growers with pots and hanging baskets. And a group of garden centers serves as drop off sites for consumers with horticultural plastic to recycle. (They work with AGSI Recycling.)
Web site: www.mnla.biz

Missouri Botanical Garden
Public collection of plastic pots, trays, cell packs. Open for collection May 1 through October 31, 2008, 9 a.m.-4 p.m. Garden centers, growers, landscapers and other professionals are encouraged to call ahead and arrange for dropoff by appointment on Wednesday mornings. The plastic gets turned into other industry products, including new trays, shipping pallets and landscapeing timbers.
Web site: http://www.mobot.org/hort/activ/plasticpots.shtml
Tel: (314) 577-9561

Michigan State University
Held a container/flat recycling day in 2008 where gardeners dropped off trays and pots for recycling. Contact: Art Cameron, professor of horticulture, MSU. Tel: (517) 355-5191.

Recycling Companies

AGSI Recycling, Savage, Minnesota
Recycling company that specializes in recycling horticultural plastics, among other things. Works with businesses and associations.
Tel: (952) 746-2554
Web site: http://agsirecycling.com

All American Recycling, Waukesha, Wisconsin
Local recycler. Will accept greenhouse film and plastics.
Tel: (262) 542-5777

Antek Madison (locations in Ontario, Chicago, Atlanta)
Recycles pots, cell packs, flats and plug trays and films.
Ontario: (416) 321-1170
Chicago: (773) 933-0900
Atlanta: (770) 948-0000
Web site: www.antekmadison.com

Cindarn Recycling, Upperco, Maryland
Recycles horticultural plastics, including greenhouse film.
Tel: (410) 374-2196

NAM Polymers Inc., Etobicoke, Ontario, Canada
Recycles polystyrene cell packs (and other plastics, as well).
Web site: http://www.nampolymers.ca/
Tel: (416)-679-8765

New Christie Ventures (Green Thumb Initiative)
A container manufacturer that ran a pilot program in spring 2008 and plans to launch a pickup/recycling program, Green Thumb Initiative, for growers and garden centers.
Web site: http://www.newchristieventures.com/html/gti_website-frontpage.HTM

Padnos, Michigan (various locations)
Will accept horticultural plastics.
Tel: (616) 396-6521
Web site: www.padnos.com

Poly America, Texas
Recycles greenhouse films.
Web site: www.poly-america.com

Universal Commodity Services Inc., Brooklyn, New York
Has a recycling program for nurseries, farms, and growers with plastic pots, plug trays, flats, and film. Works with the New Jersey Department of Agriculture recycling programs.
Tel: (347) 587-6158
Web site: http://www.ucsincny.com

DIY Wholesale grower examples

Eaton Farms, Pennsylvania
Runs a return program for their branded Pennsylvania Pride pots.
Web site: www.eatonfarms.com

Loma Vista Nursery, Kansas
Offers to pick up returned pots and trays from their retail garden center customers. (They'll also accept dropoffs.) They reuse what they can and then contract with a local recycling company who collects pots for recycling.

Retailer examples

Minnesota garden centers: participate in MNLA's Enviro-911 recycling program and collect pots from their customers.
www.mnla.biz and http://www.gardenminnesota.com/recycling_program.htm#gc_dropsites

Meijers, Midwest
Working on a pilot program in 2008. They provide dropoff stations at retail stores, the growers serving the stores pick up the racks of returned pots and trays and stack and sort them. East Jordan Plastics then picks up wrapped pallets of the plastic at the grower locations and recycles the material.

The Glass Greenhouse, Jamesport, NY
Retail grower that accepts their own branded pots back (pay a 5-cent return deposit to customers as cash or credit). All pots are marked with a 5-cent return deposit, and their customers love it. They've received almost a quarter of a million pots in the three years of the program.