茄子直播

Professor Sally Krigstin holds a truly biodegradable fibre plant pot (all photos by Brianna Goldberg)

Revolutionary fibre gardening pots developed at 茄子直播 to hit shelves soon

Solving the 鈥榩aper or plastic鈥 debate for gardening and beyond

Consumers buying plants sprouting from eco-looking fibre flower pots have been buying pots which actually contain a petroleum-based product鈥攗ntil now.

A team of University of Toronto entrepreneurs from the Faculty of Forestry has developed a new formula to make fibre plant pots truly biodegradable. Working in collaboration with Myers Lawn and Garden Segment, they are bringing to market a green alternative to fibre pots.

鈥淭he current fibre pots you see have a petroleum product in them to give it water resistance,鈥 said 茄子直播 forestry professor Sally Krigstin, explaining how the fibre pots don鈥檛 simply disintegrate when watered. 鈥淥ur product, which is 100 per cent bio-based, has the ability to be biodegraded by organisms you鈥檇 find in a composter or in the soil.鈥

Krigstin affectionately refers to the product as 鈥渂io-binder,鈥 due to its bio-based formula and the fact that it binds together the fibre pulp used in the pot.

An official name and website are still to come but already 250,000 pots containing the new USDA-certified fibre-binding formula developed by Krigstin along with PhD student Javad Sameni and Mohini Sain, dean of forestry, have been purchased and are now in the greenhouses of a farmer near Grimsby, Ontario.

Bob Martin, general manager of Martin Farms in Vineland Station, Ontario, purchased the order of locally-made pots using bio-binder for his 鈥淰eggie Guy鈥 line of premium potted plants, to be sold in the Sheridan nursery chain and independent garden centres across Ontario.

鈥淭he thing about your product is it gives us the balance of having a great pot and actually having it break down fast enough that people will visibly see it do so,鈥 Martin told Krigstin during a visit to his greenhouse-based farm.

As Martin (pictured below) demonstrated the tomatoes, dill and "bright lights" swiss chard growing in the bio-binder pots to Krigstin and the 茄子直播 research team, he said although it does cost him a few more pennies per pot, his clients have reacted 鈥渧ery positively鈥 to the new product.

鈥淎m I taking a bit of a hit? Yes. I know I am,鈥 he said. 鈥淏ut over time I think it鈥檚 worth it if my customers buy in, and I think they will because they can certainly make a good market from it.

鈥淒emand for that Veggie Guy line has increased every year and it鈥檚 taken a big jump again this year, so we鈥檙e pushing it with this new bio-binder and I think it鈥檒l be excellent. I would say, reality is, 90 per cent of the people that buy it haven鈥檛 a clue it鈥檚 more green than before. But we know.鈥

Louis Cercone, a sales representative with Myers, the company that manufactures the pots, pointed out that fibre pots have more benefits than just an eco-friendly-image.

He described the experience of one of his customers to whom he sold the slightly more expensive fibre-potted chrysanthemums ('mums) instead of those in cheaper, plastic pots.

鈥淚 said, 鈥楾ry these 鈥榤ums, charge more.鈥 When I saw him the following year, he said, 鈥業鈥檓 no longer going to sell plastic.鈥 The 鈥榤ums in the plastic were standing straight up. The ones in the fibre were bushy. Consumer comes in鈥攚hat are they going to grab? I don鈥檛 know about you, but I want the one that looks full. Price doesn鈥檛 matter at that point.

鈥淚 think everybody out there is looking for green products and if you can prove that it鈥檚 green and go from there, customers will pay extra for it,鈥 he said.

Krigstin鈥檚 bio-binder is certified with the USDA鈥檚 BioPreferred labeling system at 98% bio-based carbon level, as the main constituent of the binder is a waste product from papermaking.

Receiving the USDA鈥檚 certification provides added marketing leverage for the product and opens doors for uses other than just potted plants, Krigstin says.

鈥淭his is one very small application, in our opinion, as pots,鈥 she said. 鈥淲e see the much bigger application in replacing Styrofoam in food trays, packaging.

鈥淚f we can get rid of Styrofoam out of grocery stores鈥攖hat really is our vision: that we鈥檇 never see another Styrofoam tray in a supermarket.鈥

Sain echoed Krigstin, citing possible uses for bio-binder in fast-food pizza boxes and plastics used by food chains that are currently imported from international markets with a cheap manufacturing and labour environment.

鈥淚n today鈥檚 world, Canada and the States have a lot of competition out there, particularly from smaller countries. It is not just China anymore, it鈥檚 Cambodia, Vietnam. And when you are comparing us with the world out there, they can still make things cheaper,鈥 he said. 鈥淭he only way we can keep our livelihood and good living is to get creative ideas into commerce and that鈥檚 what we are trying to drive here.鈥

Sain said he is particularly proud of the bio-binder because, unlike many innovations coming from forestry that benefit industry but aren鈥檛 seen by the general public, this is something that 鈥渢ouches common people.鈥

鈥淚t鈥檚 a big jump for public awareness for us,鈥 he said. 鈥淲e want to see similar products coming out in the future.鈥

The dill, tomatoes and swiss chard are growing nicely, Martin said, and the bio-binder pots will ship to stores in the first week of May. He will also be demonstrating them during his Earth Day promotion at Sheridan Nurseries in Unionville on April 20 and on April 26 at Holland Park Garden Gallery in Burlington.

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