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Harlequins Gardens

Harlequins Gardens

Boulder's specialist in well-adapted plants

We Are Open Tuesday – Sunday, 9 – 5 for the season

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Home | Blog | We Can Reuse or Recycle SOME Plastic Pots

We Can Reuse or Recycle SOME Plastic Pots

February 13, 2024

pot recyclingAt Harlequin’s Gardens, we’ve been reusing and recycling black plastic nursery pots since day one. It is very important to us that we minimize our plastic waste. We have always encouraged our customers to bring back to us the nursery pots that came with the plants you purchased from us, and you have responded with enthusiasm, which we appreciate!

But many people have brought us pots that we cannot reuse and cannot recycle, and this has been costly for us. For us to be able to afford this pot drop-off service, we need your help! This year we would like to clarify exactly which pots we can accept and use. Following these requirements is the first way you can really help us out!

We can re-use ONLY the following pots and trays, as long as they are black plastic, empty, not melted, not cracked or broken:

Black plastic 2.5” square

Black plastic 4.5” square (aka Quart)

Black plastic 6.25” diam. x 7.25” round (aka #1 or ‘1 gallon’)

Black plastic 8.75 – 9”” diam. x 8” deep round (aka #2 or ‘2 gallon’)

Black plastic 11” – 12” diam. x 10” – 11”deep round (aka #5 or ‘5 gallon’)

Black plastic molded trays to fit 2.5” pots or 4.5” pots

We also recycle nursery pots, and you can too! But there are limitations. ONLY pots with the recycling codes 2 or 5 in the little triangle can be recycled by EcoCycle. The smaller size pots, 2.5” and 4.5” are made of a different plastic formula, are much thinner, and are marked with a recycling code of 6, which cannot be recycled, at least not by EcoCycle. They go in the trash to the landfill. But if you are careful with them and don’t allow them to get broken, cracked or melted, you can bring them back to us for re-use! Please store your pots out of the sun (preferably indoors). Even in winter the sun can warp and melt them.

The second way you can help us out is with a donation to our pot sorting and processing fund. To make it easy for you to make a small donation, we’ll post a sign with a QR code so you can pay from your smartphone. We appreciate your help!

We have sample pots mounted display board at our pot recycling drop-off area. When we are open, please visit and take a look at the samples of pots and trays we accept on the board before you bring pots to drop off. Thank you so much!

 

Tags: sustainable gardening Categories: Blog, Sustainability, OLD-Archive, OLD-Blog

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We do not ship plants!

Our plants are for sale ONLY at our Boulder location. We DO NOT ship plants or any other products.  Come visit us!

Hours by Season

SUMMER HOURS
Tuesday-Sunday, 9AM-5PM

 

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Contact Us

303-939-9403 (Retail)
staff@harlequinsgardens.com

4795 North 26th St
Boulder, CO 80301

Sign-up for E-Newsletters!

Sign-up for our weekly e-newsletters to receive empowering gardening tips, ecological insights, and to keep up on happenings at Harlequin’s Gardens — such as flash sales and “just in” plants. We never share customer’s addresses!

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Our Hours

Seasonally, MARCH to OCTOBER.
MARCH HOURS:
Thursday-Sunday, 9AM-5PM

APRIL-OCTOBER HOURS:
Tuesday-Sunday, 9AM-5PM

JANUARY - FEBRUARY HOURS
Thursday-Saturday, 10AM-4PM

Mondays, CLOSED

The plants we grow are organically grown. All the plants we sell are free of bee-killing neonicotinoid pesticides.