GARDEN CENTRES COLLECT AN ESTIMATED 91,229 POUNDS OF PLASTIC DURING 2012 NATIONAL PLASTICS RECYCLING EVENT

Customers that visited their local independent garden centre from June 22 to July 1, would have seen piles of old garden pots stacked high.  This year, an estimated 91,229 lbs of plastic was collected during the Canadian Nursery Landscape Association’s (CNLA) National Plastics Recycling Event.  56 garden centres, spanning eight provinces, participated by acting as drop-off points for their community’s used garden pots and trays.  With a 40% increase in participation and plastics collected, this year’s event was a huge success!

The CNLA would like to extend a huge thank you to all participating member garden centres put in the extra effort to make this years event so successful - a lot of work goes into saving over 90,000 lbs of plastic from the landfill. The word was spread throughout the media, with mentions by CBC News NB, various municipal newspapers, regional websites, association websites and more.  A media listing can be found here.  

This was the third year for the program, which was launched in 2010, when just six garden centres collected more than 53,000 pounds of plastic, and last year over 40 garden centres participated collecting 63,150 pounds.  The National Plastics Recycling Event is scheduled to return again in 2013 - Recyclers who can offer free pick-ups of unsorted garden and agricultural plastics, and garden retailers who wish to participate, are asked to contact the CNLA.