It’s nearing that time when a lot of us, including myself, start to get ready for another gardening season. And with gardening, comes mounds upon mounds of plastic planters, pots, and bags. Are they recyclable?
The answer is ‘it depends’.
Black plastic is not accepted in the blue box.
Black plastic pots and planters, foam meat trays, and takeout containers belong with regular household garbage, and not in the blue box. Find ways to reuse black plastic planters, or ask the store you purchase them from if they will take them back.
Every other colour planter or pot is fine in the blue box, but they must be clean, and have the number 1,2, or 5 on the bottom. Large tree pots should be taken back to the store or find a way to reuse them.
Stack similar plastic planters. Put #1’s with # 1’s, #5’s with #5’s, etc. and put them with your other plastics and metals in the blue box. They’re usually all stamped with a #5.
Handles and hangers are garbage. We can not process them. Remove all handles and hangers from planters and place them with your household garbage.
Plastic soil bags? Yes they are recyclable, but they must be clean, dry, and stuffed into a bag with your other film plastic bags. Polyweave bags (even if they have a #5 on them) and pet food bags are garbage.
So it’s a little bit of good news and bad news. Yes, gardening pots and planters are recyclable, but they cannot be black, the handles must be removed, they must have a #1,2 or 5 on the bottom, and they must be clean.
