When you’re out shopping for flowers at Reston Farm Garden Market, you’ll notice a large selection of our Proven Winners plants are now packaged in Eco+ Grande® and Eco+ Quart® pots.
What’s an Eco+ pot?
Eco+ posts are sustainable alternative to single-use plastic pots that are 100% plastic free. Though they look and feel like plastic, they are made out of PLA (polylactic acid).
PLA is made from natural sugars derived from corn grown in the U.S. Starch from the sugars is processed into a biopolymer that looks, acts and performs like plastic but is far easier to biodegrade.
Eco+ pots are plantable — you can plant the entire pot without taking it out!
If you do so, you must first snap out the two large tabs from the sides of the container (which are larger in the latest model than previously). This removes a good portion of the lower half of the container, which allows the plants’ roots to escape fully and root into the ground. Do not leave any portion of the container sticking up above the soil line.
As the PLA material breaks down in the soil, the nutrients it contains feed your plants. How quickly does it break down? That varies quite a bit based on the soil temperature, moisture and length of your growing season. Warmer, wetter and longer = faster. Typically, Eco+ containers last at least a full season in the ground. Any pieces that remain can be tilled into the soil the following spring. Breaking up the remainder hastens degradation. Compare that to the hundreds of years that plastic would have remained in your local landfill.
Award-winning Eco+ pots are compostable!
If you’re not composting in your yard, Eco+ pots are ASTM D6400-certified industrial compostable, and can be brought to municipal facilities for composting. These are the same facilities that manage the composting of food waste, yard waste, etc., broken down into usable compost.
NOTE: This is NOT the same as recycling, which is used for plastics. Please do not put plastic-free Eco+ pots in your recycling bin – just like you wouldn’t put yard waste into it. These pots are made out of plants!
Reston Farm Garden Market is proud to be a Proven Winners Certified Garden Center! We offer a huge selection of the Proven Winners annuals and perennials you’re searching for. Our trained and knowlegeable staff is here to help answer any questions you have, and to help your garden grow!
