Recycled plastic at its best

Thankfully this year, we're moving towards the balmy days of July without too much rain, so most of us are breathing a sigh of relief that pottering around the garden isn't going to involve a sou’wester. The BBC's Weather Forecast predicts a generally bright summer, with some spells of rain, but generally the outlook is good.

I've been turning my attention to the greenhouse and now I've booted the tortoise out, I'm going to get in there to re-house my plants on greenhouse staging made from recycled plastic. Unlike wood, plastic won’t rot or otherwise degrade - if its going to be a warm summer it'll get pretty humid in there. I’m also looking forward to making sure I’m not accidentally providing a lovely warm, wet wooden home for garden pests looking to tuck into my succulent tomatoes and salad veg. Apart from it all being less likely to simply fall apart, it’s also very satisfying to be able to find a practical use for recycled plastic.

Plastic in the environment is definitely one of my bug-bears. Waste Watch estimate plastic bags make up 57% of all litter strewn around our beaches and only 7% of plastic waste is actually recycled. Globally speaking, up to 8% of oil consumption goes into plastic manufacturing processes. Waste Watch cite a study showing that as much as 1.8 tonnes of oil is saved each time a tonne of recycled polythene is produced. Plastic makes up 7% of UK household rubbish and most plastics don't readily bio-degrade - they simply occupy more and more space year after year in our landfill sites. If that sounds alarming, its also worrying that Waste Watch estimate plastic use is currently rising by about 4% a year in Western Europe.

So you can understand why my recycled greenhouse staging was quite a find for me. It is a way to get a longer product shelf-life (excuse the pun) for my staging, protect my plants from any impromptu insect picnics and contribute to the plastics recycling industry. The idea that plastic is good just needs a little getting your head around initially.