Recycling Ideas ?

[john]

I'm in !!

Good for you Shirlz2005,did you go to their website and find out about FAIRTRADE FORTNIGHT,-there's a new range of fairtrade footballs,rugby balls,and volly balls available in some selected OXFAM shops,and they are calling on all gardeners to support their GIVE & GROW CAMPAIGN.
The new initiatives gives 40 per cent of sales from hand grown plants ie directly back to OXFAM,so it won't just be your garden that's thriving.
Power to the people who are doing their bit to help others. John. JRP.

[john]

Hi All,another month gone by again and still no major breakthrough in regards to finding some one to help me to take my idea forward to help the poor.

Whilst we are now having some rainfall in the South East I have now done up all my container cap to save as much water as I can,as I think we are not going to get a lot of rain in the summer.
This year I'm growing a lot more in my pallet section on my half plot for example. Starting from the front on the left side of my pallet plot,(P1) section I've got potato's growing in 50 bottomless 2 litre bottles on the bottom,and I've got 50 old onions growing in 2 litre bottomless bottles on the top sown in 2004. (P2) has got another 50 potato containers on the bottom and 50 old leeks growing in 2 litre bottomless bottles on the top sown in 2004. (P3) has got another 50 potato containers on the bottom,and 50 mixed carrot bottomless bottles on the top. (P4) has got another 50 potato containers on the bottom,and 50 Parsnip bottomless bottles on the top sown in 2006. (P5) has got another 50 potato containers on the bottom,and 50 Beetroot bottomless bottle on the top sown in 2006.
I've just started my (A) pallet section with 40 more potato 4 pint containers inside 50 6 pint base containers in rows 1-2-4-5, my third rows got Runner Beans growing in 10 2 litre bottomless bottles sown in 2006.
(B) and (C) have 80 spare base 6 pint containers in at the moment with their third rows having some more Runner beans in sown 2006.(D) (E) (F) have srawberries growing in them on the bottom in 6 pint containers,with some herbs containers and celary containrs on the top,plus old spring onions sweetpeas ond other things. In my (G) section pallet I've got 50 Broadbeans plants growing,in my (H) section pallet I've got 50 French Beans,in my (I) section pallet I've got 50 lettuce growing,in my (J) (K) (L) section pallet I've got peas growing,in my (M) (N) (O) section pallets I've got Tomato's seedlings growing.
In my first pallet section on the right side I've got 100 Cabage growing in 100 containers,(P2) got 100 Brussle sprouts growing in containers,(P3) got 100 Brocioly growing in containers,(P4) has got mixed onions growing on the bottom and I've got Radishes on the top growing,(P5) got 100 Couliflowers growing in it.
All I've got to do now is to wait and see what harvest I will get. John. JRP.

[john]

:mrgreen:I'M SORRY about the silly spelling mistakes,no spell check. on my last post,and some others. John. JRP.

[Shelle]

I try to avoid buying items in plastic containers when I can as glass, etc is more easily recyclable. But the local council will now recycle certain types of plastic.

I am very much the same and believe in minimising use more so than trying to find an on-going use (and therefore still creating a demand) for these physical items deem necessary in this life.

I commend you John for trying in your way to help others.

I am not sure it is fair to say we do not care, we may not share your enthusiasm for your ideas or even understand them fully, but we all do our own bit at making the world more balanced.

May i ask if you have been to visit any of these people you are trying to help to get a grasp on the conditions they face?

As i understand it you are using the internet to get your message across ... this confuses me a little ... the people you are trying to help ... how to you propose to get this information to them ... would they have access ... i know a lot of people (poor or rich) are unable to access the internet in Australia as the infrastructure is just not available.

I am just trying to get the puzzled look of my face before i give myself a headache, and understand a bit further.

[john]

Hi Shele,thank you for showing your interest in the way I do things,all I'm trying to do is tell people there is a recycling system that works,made from rubbish which can be used in many ways,the main one being to grow food to eat,and I've built a website to show people proof of what I say is true,done in the hope it will help the poor. I can't see why you are puzzeled or confused about what I'm offering,it's simply help,in the simplest and cheapest way. John. JRP.

[Shelle]

simple is good and helping people i can understand

best of luck with spreading the word.

i have entered a family of inventors and i know what it is like to get a new idea or consept to be accepted, it does take time for it to catch on or be accepted, especially if it is really different from the norm, no matter how much it seems logical to the inventor(s).

[john]

oops I've done it again I'm sorry Shelle. John. JRP.

[Shelle]

all good ... that is how i used to spell it anyway

[oddballdave]

Hi JRP,

having checked out your website and read all the comments here. I just want to check something with you.
Plastic milk bottles contain very little UV protective additive (my father worked in plastics extrusion - so we know this) so they break down in sunlight. Grow yellow and brittle.
What do you do with the plastic when it rots?

Also I see your allotment is covered in pallets. Where have they been sourced from? At £2 each you would appear to have made a significant investment.

Dave

[john]

Hi JRP,

having checked out your website and read all the comments here. I just want to check something with you.
Plastic milk bottles contain very little UV protective additive (my father worked in plastics extrusion - so we know this) so they break down in sunlight. Grow yellow and brittle.
What do you do with the plastic when it rots?

Also I see your allotment is covered in pallets. Where have they been sourced from? At £2 each you would appear to have made a significant investment.

Dave

Hi Oddballdave,thank you for showing your interest in the way I do things. I'm still re-using the same plastic milk containers I collected over 5 years ago,mine have not gone yellow,but some of them are now showing signs of being brittle,as you said,but with so many being thrown away I have no trouble in replacing them. Wrong,I have paid for nothing apart for the compost I chose to use,and the seeds I chose to sow,and anything I can't use goes in our recycling bin. If you want to know more please post here again as others might want to know too. John. JRP.

[oddballdave]

Hi John

you slightly missed the point of my question, I know there are millions of plastic bottles in use and in existence, so it would be easy to replace any which are damaged. I could do that at the rate of three per week.
My question simply put is

What do you do with the damaged ones? The ones which cannot be used again by you.

As for the pallets, I see you live in London(ish) obviously a different culture. Up here in the Midlands pallets have value. There are business' who's sole function is pallets. Their reclamation, their repair, their transport to the start of the chain. The only pallets you will find around here that are being 'thrown away' are from ordinary households who have bought DIY materials which have been delivered. Such as paving slabs or decorative bricks. Even they do not escape! There are people who will go around late at night and clean them up for resale.

The company I work for return 99% of all pallets used, they know this because we count them in and they count them out. Any broken pallets are repaired using other broken pallets on the make four good ones from five broken ones. The totally smashed one then joins the energy from waste campaign and gets burned, to heat the factory.

Dave
following the practice of Bob the builder
Reduce, Reuse, Recycle

[Millymollymandy]

It's the same here too OddballDave. We only got a load of pallets because our neighbour is renovating his house! Other than that, no hope of getting one.

Why not save water in the drought situation John and plant direct in the ground? Container planting is not for drought areas. Maybe you haven't been through a really hot dry summer before.

[oddballdave]

It's the same here too OddballDave. We only got a load of pallets because our neighbour is renovating his house! Other than that, no hope of getting one.

Why not save water in the drought situation John and plant direct in the ground? Container planting is not for drought areas. Maybe you haven't been through a really hot dry summer before.

Glad someone else finds this use of pallets to be amazing. It may have been acceptable once, but the Midlands are at the front of 'Zero Waste'

One of the companies here makes the toner used in Laser printers and photocopiers. Slightest thing can contaminate a days production rendering it unusable. The company follows the Zero Waste ethos and they reduce the amount of toner wasted by having lots of checks and checks of checks. They reuse contaminated toner by selling it to a small company who mix the toner with resin to produce garden furniture. And the bottles it is shipped in are returned from consumers to the factory to be recycled.

A lot of our zero waste methods are from the third world where pallets are used to build houses or used as fuel.
Plastic is melted down and recycled or used as an energy source and burned.

I find container gardening to be THE most labour intensive method of all when it comes to watering.
To be honest I find the prospect of individually watering hundreds of containers to be daunting.

Anyone have bright ideas for water storage?

Dave

[ina]

Anyone have bright ideas for water storage?

Butts, butts, and more butts. Not really a bright idea, but the easiest, unless you can install an underground tank!

I'm impressed to hear how well the recycling has progressed... That's how it should be.

Pallets used to be chucked out a lot; I'm still quite annoyed at my dear colleagues who burned a whole pile of them last year, before I could get my hands on them! Suddenly they'd disappeared, and then it was too late... The company we now get our feed from charges a deposit for the pallets and picks them up again. Eventually, that's preferable - but I could have done with a few of those pallets, for building purposes, and the broken ones for burning in my friend's woodstove!

[john]

Hi Oddballdave and Millymollymandy,my simple answer to your guestion is again,I put what ever I can't re-use again in the recycling bin.
We also have people who go around late at night and take things,we call them thieve's in the South East.
And any pallets that make up my pallet plot I've ask someone if I could have them.
Are you saying that you have a plot like mine,because if you haven't how would you know how many times I add water to my crops.

I live in the South East of England where we have had a lot less rainfall on our land than where you are,a drought situation for all those who are growing things in the ground. My system works,so me adding some water to my crops can be done from a watering can if I needed to a section at a time,with 99% of it going to the roots,not to drain away.
All my containers are water butts by design,which I think is really a bright idea,even if you don't,anyway it's nice to know others are involved in the 3 R's. John. JRP.