Horticultural products retailer Dobbies is rolling out plant pot recycling facilities across its UK store estate via a partnership with plant pot designer elho.
The aim is to help gardeners reduce the amount of plastic ending up in landfill as a result of their endeavours.
The partnership will involve elho providing Dobbies with plastic plant pot recycling bins across 69 of its stores. Currently, the facilities are available in some stores, including Leicester and Havant, but not yet in all of Dobbies shops – with the collection facilities not currently in its London-based Little Dobbies shops, for example.
Plant pot recycling options at curbside in the UK vary from council to council, which often results in the plastic ending up in the general waste and destined for landfill. Now, Dobbies has recognised this situation and is allowing consumers to deposit the waste in its stores, and from there it will be collected for recycling by elho and its partners.
Dobbies conducted research on the matter earlier this month, and found that 35% of gardeners want to recycle more of their garden waste products this spring.
Meanwhile, elho calls itself a sustainable plant pot company, producing only 100% recyclable plant pots that are made from recycled materials. It also said it operates using renewable wind energy from the company’s wind-powered factory in the Netherlands.
Additionally, in 2021 the company said it recycled more than 13 million kilograms of recycled plastic to create its beautifully designed pots.
Chris Buck, northern account manager at elho, commented: “We’re pleased to be working on this initiative with Dobbies to encourage gardeners to recycle their plant pots, and to make it incredibly easy for them to do so.
“It’s great to be working together to collect plastic garden waste and give it a second lease of life, instead of sending mountains of it to landfill. We wanted to help provide gardeners with a simple, convenient solution to dispose of their plant pots in an environmentally friendly way.”
Marcus Eyles, horticultural director at Dobbies, added: “We are always looking for ways to embed sustainability into our operations, and this is a positive step forward in our #SustainableDobbies journey.
“We also know from our own research that this is also something our customers are increasingly passionate about, and while we have encouraged pot recycling for a number of years in-store, these new bins provide customers with a clear message and opportunity to recycle.”
[Image credit: Stewart Attwood for Dobbies]
