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Horticulture, Landscape and Nursery Supplies
Family Owned and Operated | Trusted Partners Since 1975
In Horticulture, We Do Plastics Better! Our industry has long used the same plastic for containers and labels making them recyclable together. At GCP our current use of recycled Polypropylene (PP) is over 7million Kilograms annually. Every Australian Nursery is already a part of keeping PP out of landfill.
Almost 4 decades ago, suppliers like GCP & Norwood began partnering to use the same plastic (PP). The decision to keep the streams of packaging in our industry aligned, was made through in-depth research and sound reasoning. Many things have changed in the past 40 years but the decision to manufacture Horticulture products in PP means today, our industry is a long way further ahead of others and actually leading closed-loop recycling methods.
Horticulture businesses all over Australia actively using Black PP are already keeping 7 Million Kg of recyclable material out of landfill every year. Our aim at GCP, is to increase our use of recycled PP for plastics, Pots and Containers targeting 10million Kg per annum. We are ready to use the PP our recyclers source from various industry members, landscape businesses or home gardeners to make pots over and over again.
If we discarded PP as our chosen container and label material in favour of another resource, such as compostable or biodegradable materials, Australia would automatically need to find landfill space for all the PP used in our industry per year. Meaning that through the use of PP plastic for pots etc, this industry’s members are already leaders in good sustainable practice. If we stopped using PP, we would have to use something less suited and less sustainable as packaging preventing finite resources from being used elsewhere.
PP is simply a Polyolefin or combination of long chain Hydrogen and Carbon molecules which is fully recyclable and similar in structure to products like Polyethylene. PP is almost perfect for use in plant containers and labels as it can simply and effectively be reused indefinitely if captured and recycled without going to landfill. PP is one of the most widely accepted recyclable plastics and its structure and properties are very well suited to the uses nurseries require to grow good plants and transport them for sale.
We already have an abundant supply of PP onshore. Our industry can lead the way in closed-loop capture and reuse of post-consumer Horticultural PP. Because PP is the main industry packaging type, GCP has been able to find efficient partners to capture and reuse this material as long as it stays free from contamination with other plastics (non PP) or biodegradables which may look the same but can create major problems when mixed with PP. This is why we continue to lead the industry in supply of manufactured recycled PP which is certain to provide good structure and successful use to growers in all container sizes.
No! Responsible and well informed decisions were made about plant containers in Australia over 30 years ago. PP is a reliable and well accepted recyclable plastic which is being made into flower pots over and over again as it has been for decades. At GCP we are working with many stakeholders to increase the capture and reuse of single and multiuse PP in every state of Australia.
“The people who make the biggest difference are the ones who do the little things consistently”... Every one of us as growers or consumers of Greenlife is responsible for taking small but constant steps to make a difference in the collection of post use (recycled) PP.
In your nursery, the steps are important but simple:
We source all of our cardboard cartons, packaging and plant transport boxes from Visy with the maximum included recycled cardboard percentage. We take care to work with Visy ensuring that recycled cardboard content increases. Together, we also ensure that each product is fit for purpose and of the right quality and standard for dependable use.
GCP partners with these two organisations to convert our commercial plant health solutions to IPM and Organically integrated offers assisting growers to give consumers better Greenlife.
GCP is a signatory to the Australian Packaging Covenant Organisation (APCO) we work closely with APCO in assisting industry to close the loop on packaging of Horticultural Plastics.
GCP partners with Polymer Processors and Norwood Industries as leading organisations committed to providing a collective program for PP5 recycling.
drumMUSTER provides an easy, environmentally-friendly way of disposing empty farming chemical containers across rural Australia.
