Recycle Your Garden Containers

Many Virginia Master Naturalists are involved in native plant gardening in some form or another, either at home or as part of a service project. As I've worked to transform my own little 1/3 acre, formally all lawn, into native plants and better wildlife habitat, I've found that my garden shed is filling up with plastic plant pots and flats. I can't possibly re-use them all and didn't know where to recycle them, but I couldn't bear to send them to the landfill, either.

Master Gardeners to the rescue! Just published in today's Virginia Tech News is an article about how Virginia Cooperative Extension and the Virginia Green Industry Council are expanding a garden container recycling program statewide. So far, there are locations in Colonial Heights, Altavista, Gretna, Hampton, Newport News, and Yorktown, and they are looking for more retailers and landscapers to sign up for the program. The great thing about the program is that any revenue generated from the plastics recycling goes to support the Virginia Master Gardeners Association's State Master Gardener Coordinator endowment fund.

Support our "sister" program by recycling your garden containers at one of the locations listed, and talk to your local retail centers and landscapers about participating!