Toilet roll holders - expanding peat thingies

Parsnips sowed yesterday, tubes placed in Poundland cellular trays with circular inserts that are perfect for 20 x bog roll tubes.

 

Why not just buy some plastic trays?
No fungus, not really expensive and easier to water.

 

There's too much plastic in the world already. Why add more when we already have a suitable biodegradable thing as a waste product of something we have to buy anyway?

 

Because in my view its not a great idea.
The plastic ones last a few years anyway, so dont throw them away after year one.
Just keep them out of the sun and they wont go brittle.

 

Fair point, but even if they lasted 10 years, it's still a considerable environmental impact when the same can be achieved without detriment.

Consider the crazy world we live in. Crude oil is extracted from the middle east. From there it is transported in ships all the way to, for example, the UK. About 5 miles from me in fact. Then it goes by road to the plastic plant at the petrochemical site near me. There, they use so much power that they have their own power station and still buy from the national grid at a cost of about £1 million per day. This fuels the plant that exposes the crude oil to a mix of extreme heat and extreme cold, causing the molecules to split and form into various chemicals. Much of that is flammable gas, which is usually burned off on the flare stack, because it is not apparently of a commercial grade. Still more is wasted as a useless sludge. A bit of it is plastic in its raw form. This is extracted and made into pellets.

The pellets then get bagged, and travel by road to the port, then by ship to China, where the pellets are melted, fused with other chemicals, dyed, moulded, and made into your plastic trays among other things. Then it's back on a ship again, to all over, including the UK, to be sold in shops.

When it's finished, it either ends up in landfill, where it will sit for thousands of years, or its back on a ship, to be sorted for recycling insome third world country, which in reality means it is dumped at sea because it has no worth and it's easier to fly tip than pay for proper disposal.

 

Sorry.
Just going to crawl back into my cave, dont like being extravagant

 

What a lot you got ! You even have two of the essential £1 buckets , the perfect big plant pot Its just a bit of a pain cleaning everything at the end of the potting season.

 

Well - this thread started a bit of a debate
I try to recycle everything I use at the allotment! Its called "lottie freecycle" afterall
Will try the loo roll holders for sweet peas & parsnips - who knows, I may be back here in a couple of weeks praising or pooping them(not literally!)

 

I prefer the high cost designer £1 bucket . I would not dream of being seen with a £0.99 bucket, so common

 

Found these when having a tidy up today, can't remember when I got them, lack of success Googling makes me think pre-internet. Poshest cardboard tubes I've seen: