Recycled Materials Greenhouse

I had a lovely email from Lesley Heatley who has built a brilliant small greenhouse to get her seeds started from scrap wood and recycled plastic. Some thoughts on plastic waste and greenwash from me.

Min-greenhouse for starting seedlings constructed from recycled materials

She says:

Just thought you may be interested in our little greenhouse we built for nothing on our Community allotment. Basically it is built from scrap bits of wood and recycled plastic.

We asked the Dairy Manager in Tesco would she save the plastic holders that hold the double cream cartons on the shelves. She very kindly saved them for weeks for us.
To give strength, they are tripled together, so effectively we have a triple glazed greenhouse.

The results have been amazing. We have cabbage, red cabbage, broad beans, peas, carrots, beetroot and herbs already sprouting from seed.

Just wanted to share, to show- anyone can have a greenhouse without the expense. We have lots of plastics left, so are working on cold frames at the minute.

If you’ve got a recycled construction you’d like to share, just email me about it with a photo(s) if possible- john@allotment-garden.org .

What to do with plastic?

As you’ll probably know, especially if you watched me in the recycled plastic raised bed video, plastic waste and the damage it is causing worries me. What are we passing on to our children and grandchildren?

Personally we use our recycle bins where we can’t make better use of waste but I’ve this nagging concern about what happens to the recycling. Is it actually reused or just sent to some third world country who we treat as a cheap dump? I don’t know.

I hadn’t even thought about the waste we don’t see. Packaging, wrapping materials etc. that products are sent to the shops in. We, as a society, really need to sort this out before it’s too late.

Greenwash

We bought a malt loaf and I noticed this on the side. Irony doesn’t really do it justice. Words fail me.