Sustainability of the ARRAY-PLANTER

Sustainable materials: When choosing the material for a planter, a number of factors must be taken into account, whereby the assessment of sustainability is of great importance.  Due to the technical (e.g. stability, durability) and functional (e.g. weight, shape) requirements, many materials accepted as sustainable (wood, clay) are ruled out for a balcony planter. Instead, in addition to various plastics, metals (sheet zinc) are also an option.

Although the use of plastic (in this case polypropylene) is usually viewed critically, we are convinced that we have found a sustainable solution within the realms of possibility.
The disadvantages of using plastics are justifiably much discussed:

• Consumption of energy to produce the plastic (here, for example, from crude oil)
• Emission of harmful substances during the production of plastic
• Consumption of limited available fossil raw materials
• The problem of plastic waste, in particular the littering of the oceans with plastic

The consumption of energy and the emission of pollutants are unavoidable in the production of both metal and plastic, but can be reduced by using efficient processes.

Conservation of fossil raw materials: From our point of view, sustainable, i.e. sparing use of the finite resource of crude oil is best achieved by avoiding short-term (one-off) use - in the form of plastic or incineration. In order to take the value of the precious resource of crude oil into account, the longevity of the Array-Planter product and efficient recycling are our top priorities:

• All product parts are marked with their material code and can be disposed of via the standard recycling systems if required (yellow, orange garbage can)
• The material code enables automatic sorting for high-quality, color- and type-pure recycling and thus complete reuse as a raw material
• The plastic used is specially designed for durability (UV and weather-resistant) - the array planter can therefore remain in use for 5-10 years, depending on the amount of sunlight it receives

Finally, a comparison: To illustrate the relevance of the longevity of a plastic product for the assessment of sustainability, a comparison with petrol is useful:
Approx. 0.5 liters of petroleum are required to produce the raw material for an array planter. The finished array planter can then be used for 5-10 years. If recycled by type, the plastic can also be reused 3-5 times for other products. In contrast, 0.5 liters of petrol (i.e. crude oil) are sufficient for a normal car to drive up to 10 km only once.