Throughout my gardening life, I have accumulated enough plastic plant pots to keep a small nursery in business. I have refused to dump them in the rubbish bin, to be consigned to a landfill site, where they would never rot down and would remain a blot on the landscape for years to come.
Instead, I have held on to them, sacrificing increasing space both inside and outside the greenhouse, in the hope that, one day, I would have the opportunity to see them re-duced, reused and recycled.
Now, that day has come!
Wyevale Garden Centres, in association with Linpac Plastics Recycling, is trialling the collection of plastic plant pots at 30 of its top stores nationwide, where they will be sent away to be recycled into all manner of plastic goods - including plant pots.
Billed as the plastic carrier bags of the gardening industry, it is estimated that up to 500 million are sold - with plants inside - by plant-buyers annually.
Whereas food shoppers can choose not to use plastic carriers, garden buyers have no reasonable alternative but to take home the specimen they want in a pot. And, with the best will in the world, there are only so many pots a regular gardener can reuse around their own plot.
That means many millions are wasted.
So imagine my joy, when, last weekend, I was able to offload two car boots full of unwanted plastic pots with a completely clear conscience at my local Wyevale garden centre - and then to rearrange my greenhouse with the benefit of all that extra space.
Centres taking part in the pilot scheme include Wood-lands, at Stapleton, near Hinckley, Blooms at Rugby and Wyevale at Rothley, near Leicester, but it is worth ringing any Wyevale centre to check, as the scheme is continuing to be rolled out following its official Easter launch.
The recycling initiative is part of a series of planned environmental measures being introduced by Wyevale, including the reduction of packaging and water use, the protection of natural habitats, such as endangered forests and peat bogs, and the fair trade of products, wherever their source.
The aim, says the company, is to encourage sustainable life-styles and carbon-positive gardening.
It is a grand vision and a tall order but every extra effort made towards these laudable goals has to be worth a try. If every gardener starts by recycling a stack of plastic pots, who knows where it could lead?
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