7 Recycled Plant Pots For Circularity-Minded Planters
Throughout your ecological gardening efforts, you’ve probably become familiar with ways to achieve circular plants—like composting and saving seeds for next year—but what about the circularity of what you plant them in?
Recycled plant pots get the (green) thumb’s up from us for helping reduce waste, saving money, and looking creatively cool in our gardens.
After all, the world already has enough stuff. Landfills and thrift shops alike are overflowing with discarded items, especially plastics.
According to the EPA, landfills in the US received almost 30 million tons of plastic in 2018, and that amount rises annually.
So why not transform old household items or old plastics into stylish recycled planters for your garden?
Ranging from recycled plastic outdoor planters to upcycled car tires to old shoes, there are plenty of unique recycled plant pot ideas and products out there to benefit both the environment and your beloved garden.
Go full Martha Stewart on your indoor or outdoor garden by making your own creative recycled plant pots. Everything but the kitchen sink will do. Oh wait…an old kitchen sink is a great idea for a garden planter, too!
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An Early Seeding Of Our Favorite Recycled Planters
We love DIY recycled planters because they save money, help the environment, and allow our creative juices to flow.
If upcycled bottles are your thing, but you don’t have a glass cutter to get the job done, look no further than Gottles. Made in the USA, Gottles sells groovy indoor planters made of recycled materials like wine and spirit bottles.
Curious about how we chose the best recycled planters out there today? Seed between the lines and root your way down to the end of this article.
The Full List Of Recycled Garden Pots
- DIY Recycled Plant Pots
- Woodland Pulse | Visit Store
- Gottles | Visit Store
- Wilder Island | Visit Store
- Plant Apparel UK | Visit Store
- West Elm | Visit Store
- ECOPOTS | Visit Store
1. DIY Recycled Plant Pots
Get your garden and your creative juices growing and create one (or many!) of these DIY plant pots from recycled materials you might have lying around the house.
Not only will they give new life to old items, but they’ll add style to your green thumb glories.
Just like with upcycled clothing, an upcycled pot prevents waste and saves costs by repurposing old items you already have. The possibilities are endless.
Don’t be-leaf us?
To seed some ideas in your brain, we’ve gathered some of our very favorite creative DIY recycled plant pot ideas to upcycle in your own home and prevent the need to buy new:
- Old tires: when you get them replaced, save them and turn them into planters. You don’t have to pay for the shop to dispose of the tires OR pay for planters… win win! Plus, flower pots made from recycled tires add a cool “edge” to your garden.
- Wood pallets: There are so many planters you can create from these, from vertical gardens for herbs to window boxes. You can typically get these for free from your local hardware or home improvement store.
- Lumber scraps: If you’re handy with a drill and saw, use scraps to build your own raised beds and planter boxes. If you don’t have any lumber scraps around the house, visit the back of Home Depot or Lowe’s; they usually have tons they’ll give away for free.
- Old shoes: Create kitschy little garden planters with old boots
- Coffee cans or old tupperware: Simply punch drainage holes in the bottom and turn them into indoor planters.
- Painted yogurt containers: Get crafty and paint yogurt containers as cute indoor recycled polypropylene plant pots.
- Baskets: With excellent drainage, these are perfect for plants who prefer more arid soil, like succulents and cacti. If you don’t have any lying around, thrift stores are full of them.
- Pots, pans, and ceramic containers: Recycling cookware or teapots that are no longer fit for cooking into a perfect garden planter is another clever gardening hack. Because it’s hard to punch drainage holes, water minimally.
- Old drawers: If you’re getting rid of an old dresser, the drawers make adorably rustic DIY recycled planters.
- Old sinks, toilets, or bathtubs: A bit mulch? Your washroom appliances don’t have to be a one trick peony…They can spruce up your yard and add to your eco-friendly landscaping, You can also source these secondhand from reuse stores like Habitat For Humanity ReStore.
2. Woodland Pulse
About Woodland Pulse
Price Range: $20–$30
Inspired by architectural forms in nature, Woodland Pulse creates beautiful geometric indoor pots that follow parametrics.
This refers to a process of design that multiplies forms and curvatures into striking pieces that are greater than the sum of their parts.
We especially love the Brown Geometric Planter that comes available in a small and medium size.
Woodland Pulses Ethical & Sustainability Practices
Materials:
All of Woodland Pulses creative recycled planters are handcrafted out of recycled wood fibers and biodegradable corn byproducts.
Supply chain & labor practices:
They’re handmade in Washington, DC by founder Wally using recycled wood and biodegradable corn products that are consciously sourced.
Carbon commitments & green practices:
Via Stripe Climate, Woodland Pulse donates 1% of its profits to carbon removal.
Beyond that, Etsy carbon offsets all shipping that occurs through their renewable energy-powered alternative to Amazon platform.
Also available on Woodland Pulse
3. Gottles
About Gottles
Price Range: $20–$100
If you think making planters from recycled materials requires specialty materials and technology, we’ve got(tles) something to show you.
Gottles upcycles plain old glass bottles into beautiful, unique indoor recycled planters.
As a family-owned small home-based business, Gottles believes that upcycling glass bottles helps to divert glass waste from entering landfills and can reduce greenhouse gas emissions from reproduction manufacturing plants.
A couple of our favorite recycled indoor plant pots are the Patron Tequila Hanging Planter or the Wine Bottle Succulents Planter.
Gottles’ Ethical & Sustainability Practices
Materials:
Bottles bottles bottles!
Gottles offers upcycled planters in just about every kind of repurposed glass bottle you can imagine. There’s no question which side of the glass vs plastic debate they’re on.
Supply chain & labor practices:
The family behind Gottles collects empty liquor, wine, and other glass bottles from friends, partners, donors, local bars, and restaurants to repurpose them into unique home decor and homemade recycled plant pots.
Carbon commitments & green practices:
Gottles was founded for the explicit purpose of giving a new life to otherwise landfill-bound everyday items.
4. Wilder Island
About Wilder Island
Price Range: $50–$100
Wilder Island creates upcycled home decor and large recycled outdoor plant pots.
Founder Anthony Wilder noticed that there was a tonne of unused materials at local building sites, so he began to contact home builders to collect leftover materials.
From there, Anthony began to design and build beautiful home products.
If you’re in need of large recycled planters for your garden, Wilder Island has a large range of designs to choose from.
Their Angled Window Box Planters are available in a range of colors and sizes, and are sized just right for apartment gardening.
Wilder Island’s Ethical & Sustainability Practices
Materials:
All materials used are natural, repurposed and upcycled wood and/or glass from local home building sites in North Carolina, where they’re based.
Supply chain & labor practices:
Everything is hand-sourced and handcrafted by the company’s founder, Anthony.
5. Plant Apparel UK
About Plant Apparel UK
Price Range: $25–$40
Plant Apparel offers exactly what the name suggests: upcycled clothing to dress up your indoor home plants.
Offering upcycled planter covers and handmade, hand-printed plant accessories, this Etsy shop receives rave reviews for their unique, earthy style.
Their fan favorite, the Upcycled Coffee Sack Plant Pot, is available in three different diameter sizes and with graphics or without.
Plant Apparel UK’s Ethical & Sustainability Practices
Materials:
Everything is either repurposed from coffee sacks, or sustainable calico fabric that is handprinted.
Supply chain & labor practices:
This business operates as a one woman production and sales shop based in London.
Carbon commitments & green practices:
Sustainability is a top concern for the brand, who ensure every effort is made for all packaging to be recycled and recyclable.
6. West Elm
About West Elm
Price Range: $40–$900
When you’re talking sustainability, West Elm might not be the first name that comes to mind; however, this increasingly sustainable furniture brand has taken huge strides in the conscious home decor space.
They have ethically and sustainably made items for every room in the home including decor, home textiles, and furniture for all rooms of the house—or in their case of their recycled plastic planter boxes and bowls, outside it.
Especially stylish is the Lightweight Hanging Daniel Planter for those seeking lightweight flower pots.
For recycled plastic plant troughs that can be used for annual flowers or perennials and shrubs (indoors or outdoors), check out the Lightweight Ellis Planter.
Some designs come with a matching plant stand.
West Elm’s Ethical & Sustainability Practices
Materials:
All West Elm, you’ll find recycled outdoor and indoor planters made from recycled plastic.
While not all are made of recycled materials, you can use the search function to filter exclusively for goods that are.
Supply chain & labor practices:
West Elm offers both their own in-house designs and select offerings made by third-party partner brands.
65% of their wares are made in the USA. Since West Elm is Fair Trade certified, workers are paid fair wages and supply chains are scrutinized to ensure they are just.
Additionally, West Elm has also paid more than $7.5 million into Fair Trade community development funds.
Carbon commitments & green practices:
West Elm is the only home good retailer on Barron’s 100 Most Sustainable U.S. Companies list for the last four years.
Joining the many non-toxic or sustainable sourcing certifications possessed by their other products, all recycled materials are passed through RCS, a global system overseen by Textile Exchange to verify that materials are truly reclaimed and recycled.
Community & charitable giving:
West Elm has an extensive array of charitable partnerships including the Human Rights Campaign, ASPCA, Vision Spring, HERproject, and St. Jude’s Children’s Research Hospital.
They’ve donated more than $50 million over the last 15 years.
7. ECOPOTS
About ECOPOTS
Price Range: $25–$250
If you’re looking for recycled plastic plant pots in the UK, look just across the pond to Belgium-based ECOPOTS.
They’re a truly innovative company that is always looking for ways to make flower pots more durable, beautiful, and practical.
The brand brings innovation to the world of recycled materials and pottery by offering affordable plant pots with invisible suspension, integrated wheels, maximum space use or carefree watering.
Their minimalist-chic pots are elegant and design-focused, using a balanced combination of form, function, and use.
Named after iconic cities throughout Europe, you’ll find all shapes and sizes. If you’re looking for recycled plastic planter bowls, check out the decorative Brussels line of hanging planters.
ECOPOTS’ Ethical & Sustainability Practices
Materials:
All recycled plastic pots from ECOPOTS are made of 80% recycled plastic.
The rest of the materials used in the pots are of natural origin, like stone.
Supply chain & labor practices:
ECOPOTS has their own manufacturing facilities in Asia, and regularly publishes information on working conditions in their factory.
The factory holds any ethical manufacturing certifications, following standards like Sedex with regular BSCI and SMETA auditing to demonstrate that health and safety are monitored and respected.
Carbon commitments & green practices:
ECOPOTS was the first brand in their retail sector to receive both the CO2 Neutral Company as the CO2 Neutral Product certificate.
This guarantees ECOPOTS’ calculation, reduction and compensation of their global and local impact, as validated by a third party.
Community & charitable giving:
They give back through programs to help with access to clean water in Rwanda, cookstoves in Kenya, and forest protection in Guatemala.
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How To Recycle Plastic Plant Pots
Most seedlings come in plastic nursery pots or seed trays that we don’t want ending up as waste in landfills, where they take lifetimes to decompose and release toxic microplastics.
So what can you do to recycle planters and seed trays? Can plastic plant pots be recycled?
We’ve gathered some of our best ideas of how to reuse them:
- Save them for seeding your garden.
- Use them to shake up and disperse plant fertilizer or to scoop soil.
- Turn upside down and repurpose as a lightweight filler for the bottom of your pots.
- Use an online platform like Facebook Marketplace or Freecycle to see if someone needs them.
- Use them to store stuff.
- Return them to a local greenhouse or nursery—especially large plastic pots for plants.
According to Recycle Now, many small and large plastic pots for plants can be placed at your curbside recycling to get picked up by your local facilities. Unfortunately, most do not accept black plastic ones.
Double check with your local recycling facility before tossing them in the blue bin.
How We Chose The Best Recycled Pots
What are the best recycled planter pots, and why does it (plant) matter?
Given the world already has a scourge of plastic waste to manage, upcycling items or recycling plastic is necessary to help our planet and our gardens stay fertile and green.
We looked for the following criteria for finding the best recycled plant pot brands.
Materials:
Recycled materials for plant pots can consist of anything and everything, from reclaimed wood to canvas sacks to various types of recycled plastic flower pots.
Sustainability certifications can help reassure us that the supposedly recycled planter materials are indeed recycled—and not just greenwashing to blend in with the green foliage inside.
- Certifications: Recycled Claim Standard (RCS)
Supply chain & labor practices:
While no clear recycled plastic pot was featured here, we do want a clear supply chain so we know it’s ethical and traceable. Locally produced is very best.
Plus, we want at least a living wage for factory workers, ideally backed by certifications, but given many of these planters are created by small, single-person workshops, we can more readily trust their ethics without these.
- Certifications: Fair Trade
Carbon commitments & green practices:
We like when there is a carbon offset program and shipping is done in recycled and/or recyclable materials.
Community & charitable giving:
As much as we like cheap plastic plant pots made from recycled materials, we’re happy to pay a little extra knowing a portion helps make the world a better place.
While some companies we feature are too mom-and-pop for this, we love to do our gardening with brands that give back to our local and global communities.
Final Words On Planters Made From Recycled Materials
One of the main reasons it’s so important to recycle plant pots is because the world absolutely does not need more plastic. It takes hundreds of years to decompose and contaminates the soil and water around it while it slowly breaks down.
We want an abundance of flowers and garden veggies in our planters, not microplastics, please and thank you!
Recycled plastic planters and other eco-friendly planters can add a design flair to your indoor and outdoor gardens while keeping our Earth a little cleaner.
Help your friends and family make their gardens a little more zero waste by sharing this article when they ask, “What are the best recycled planters?”.
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