Missouri Botanical Garden Goes From ‘Pots to Planks’

Dr. Steven Cline, manager of the Missouri Botanical Garden’s William T. Kemper Center for Home Gardening, decided to find a way to recycle his excess gardening containers filling his garage.

Dr. Steven Cline with some donated garden pots. Photo courtesy of Missouri Botanical Gardens

What he came up with was the “Pots to Planks” program at the Missouri Botanical Garden. The program began in 1997 and has collected more than 180 tons of gardening pots and trays. The collected pots are turned into plastic lumber planks that can be used to build raised beds or composting bins. This year has set a new collection record with 60,000 pounds of plastic resulting in almost 3,000 planks.

The plastic planks are available to the public, and can be ordered through the Missouri Botanical Garden Website at: www.mobot.org/hort/activ/plasticpots.shtml or by calling Phil Egart at 314-577-9441. In addition to individual planks, raised garden bed kits and backyard composting bins are also available for purchase.

According to the American Plastics Council, www. americanplasticscouncil.org, plastic lumber saves time and expense by eliminating replacement costs from rotted or warped wood. Painting or staining is also eliminated because the color is molded into plastic lumber, and plastic is pest and water resistant.