Sustainable Plant Packaging

Hi there I am a Product Design student in my final year. I am trying to design an alternative to those plastic pallets that plants are very often seen in. My brief is to design a container that can be used in nurseries, garden centres and by well you guys. Maybe the product has a second use such as garden storage or a growing or display unit. I hope to be able to reduce the amount of plastic pallets used. I was hoping i could get any thoughts from the people that count. Any feedback would be appreciated, problems you face in the garden that are not addressed by a product or problems transporting your plants for the garden centre etc.

If you are interested in getting more involved send me your email and i can email some early concepts to you and you can tell me what you think. I look forward to your insights.

 

Hi TomA.
Can you post a pic of what it is you are hoping to replace with your design. That way we will be more sure of what we are talking about.
Not sure what plastic pallets are.

 

Excellent! Good luck with your project Tom.

One of the things that I read, which troubles me, is that Plastic packaging (particularly flimsy plastic bags, rather than old fashioned brown paper bags) weighs less - and thus costs less to transport (and then the argument is that it is therefore "greener"). I wonder how well that argument actually holds up.

 

Hi Tom & welcome to the forum.

Anything that replaces plastic would be welcomed by me. The problem is with plants they need watering, so cardboard gets soggy & falls apart.

There are peat pots available which you can plant straight into the soil ( no root disturbance) But peat, like oil, is a limited resource.

If you could get a cardboard tray that had an organic sustainable waterproof coating then that could be the way to go, something that could be ripped up & composted after its usefull life maybe.

I would imagine ripping the card would break the coating thereby enabling it to break down.

 

"ALice, ALice, who the #### is ALice"

Now what is that a quote from, its in my mind, but can't remember where from

 

I'm pretty sure it's from the Young Ones TV series.

As for you Tom, I'd go for something along the peat pot style idea but without peat. Make a new peat pot and you'll be in business.

 

Having spent many years in the plastics industry I have somewhat different views on this range of raw materials - e.g. ref Kristen's comments about the value of plastics/paper packaging bear in mind that 90% or more of your 'plastics supermarket bags' are imported from the Far East - reaasons, cheap labour and cheap freight - plastics products are frequently much lighter than alternatives and thus cheaper to distribute.
Good luck with your project, I too would like a clearer idea of what you mean by 'plastic pallets'.

 

http://tym2act.blogspot.com/2010/04/great-pacific-garbage-patch-meet-great.html

Hey Guys thanks for your comments, the pallets i am talking about can be found in the link above. My brief specifies i use a material called Plaswood an award winning sustainable material, which is a plastic wood composite. The benefits of this material are that it does not leech chemicals into the earth like most plastic it is durable and has a life span of over 50 years. Design for longevity is a very good way to adress sustainable issues such as disposibility.

I've been gravitating towards a multi function crate that can be collapsed, stacked when collapsed or assembled, it has nice aesthetics and can be used as a plant trough if filled with compost, or it can be used as general garden storage. I've also been playing with the idea of incorporating fittings to allow it to be used as a window box.

This product may be aimed at the urban gardener, but could be just as useful for any gardener.

Any thoughts would be much appreciated

 

Hi Tom, I had a look at your link for the plastic pallets.
Those flimsy cell trays designed for one off use are just awful and anything which replaces them will be great.
I've tried the biodegradable pots and I didn't like them. It was impossible to keep plants properly watered as the pots seemed to absorb the water then just dry out - several times a day.
I'll be interested to hear how your project progresses.

 

Aesthetically what would people look for in a window box or plant pot? I have a good idea of what is currently on the existing market. I am just interested to hear first hand what people like to see in a plant display unit.

 

In my experience most gardeners like the 'natural' look for containers. Wood, aged terracotta, that kind of thing.

Some poncy 'outside room' design types like shiny metal and things like that, but I don't count them as gardeners hehe. Pah and piffle.

Also, how well it works, in terms of holding water etc and keeping the plant healthy is almost as important to most gardeners I'd say.

Re "who the **** is Alice". A country song that was made famous by Roy "chubby" Brown when he added the sweary bits, I believe!