The Zimbabwean Gardener Issue 10 Spring 2014 | Page 9

Bottles, bottles everywhere
but not a drop to drink!
Reuse or recycle your plastic bottles, but don’t
add them to our ever-expanding dumps!

Rubbish is an ongoing problem in Zimbabwe and one that
we need to pay more attention to by either getting into
better recycling habits or reusing items wisely. Plastic
bottles play a big part in the build up of our local dumps
and litter; they may come in all shapes and sizes for water,
juice, cosmetic or household products – and if you stop and
think how many we use on a daily basis, it is quite shocking!

If every Zimbabwean bought one
plastic bottle a week, roughly
650 million plastic bottles would be
filling up our dumps every year.
Most studies indicate that it
takes about 500 years for
plastic bottles to degrade.

Obviously, the first thing we can do to help resolve this
growing issue is to recycle them. However, plastic bottles
can be reused and play a big part in the garden! Here are a
few ideas on how to reuse them:

Bottle drip irrigations
This is one of the most water wise ways to water plants.
It might take a bit of trial and error to get it right, so don’t
worry if you make a few errors. The idea is to slowly deliver
water into the soil directly around the roots so it reduces
water loss via evaporation from the leaves.
Get a water bottle and remove the lid, make small slits at
the bottom of the bottle with a sharp knife. When you fill it
with water, it should drip out not gush out. Then bury the
bottles between plants. They take seconds to fill and the
tops of the bottle can be covered with mulch to disguise
them.
You can even add liquid manure into the bottles. These are
great to use in pot plants (especially if you are going away),
raised beds, veggie gardens, in a bed of annuals, by a water
loving plant – so almost anywhere!

Make small slits at the
bottom of the bottle.

Try
again....

Better!

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