In this video, I show you how to assemble a raised garden bed that has been made from recycled coffee cups and other types of soft plastics such as plastic bags.
Plastic Forests website: https://plasticforests.com.au/
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Self Sufficient Me is based on our small 3-acre property/homestead in SE Queensland Australia about 45kms north of Brisbane – the climate is subtropical (similar to Florida). I started Self Sufficient Me in 2011 as a blog website project where I document and write about backyard food growing, self-sufficiency, and urban farming in general. I love sharing my foodie and DIY adventures online so come along with me and let’s get into it! Cheers, Mark 🙂
G'day Everyone, I just want to collectively but kindly disagree with those in the comments section who are quick to suggest plastic structures like this garden bed somehow leach chemicals and microplastics into the ground (at levels that pose a substantial threat to humans, animals, or the environment). Firstly, pretty much everything gives off something as it slowly breaks down but this type of UV stabilised plastic doesn't disintegrate like a thin soft plastic bag in the sun so essentially bags that do pose a threat to the environment are collected and changed into a material like this that doesn't pose a threat. I think that is a good thing! What's the alternative – collect plastic and do nothing with it? That isn't even practical… And, take a look around and see how much humanity relies on plastic from our drug packaging, blood storage and taking, food storage, industrial-sized water storage, every second chair you sit on, take-away food, playground equipment, etc. We all want less plastic and we all want better and healthier ways to do what we need to get done but let me assure you that these plastic beds are made from a company that strictly uses no toxic chemicals to make them and does not use any types plastic in their products that once contained chemicals. All the plastic these guys use to make their products are chemical-free and mostly was used prior to wrapping food etc. David (CEO of Plastic Forests) started his company to make a difference, help solve the plastic problem, and help the environment – not to make money… https://plasticforests.com.au/ Cheers 🙂
If the screws fail you could always use banding wire to keep the circle together.
Love the kookaburra break.
Thank you for covering a most important topic. We need to hear this more often.
G'Day Mark! I would love a follow-up on the build quality of these beds… Maybe in an update montage. Thx!
Even the Kookaburra likes it! So funny that he seems so "tame."
Mark – love your videos, been watching since I found your channel in February middle of winter with -20C and the garden very much asleep. But now in June with +27C we're growing like crazy. Must agree – need to recycle plastic more, make it a good product at a reasonable price and recycling will work
The reason Earth created Humans was to give it the only thing it can't produce itself… Plastic.
I don’t need you to lecture me about global warming and shit as well!!!! I’m sick of it now ,,, can I just enjoy watching your channel without getting lectures etc… for god sack enough is enough..
What do you do with that raised bed when the plastic polymers which make that container become too unstable and it starts breaking apart? The polymers can only be recycled so many times; what happens to that bed? ALL plastics degrade, we should reduce how much plastic we have/produce to begin with.
Most people don't know this but the phrase "reduce, reuse, recycle" is in order of importance 🙂
This is interesting, I've come back to this video after pricing the birdie raised beds, and I'm amazed that these are about the same cost as the Birdie brand metal ones. I've got to come up with a cheaper option to do stand-up gardening.
Ahh, you there are ahead of the U.S. on creating useful recycled plastic products. We have nothing close the the Plastic Forest products and it appears P.F. only ships in Australia. It is an excellent idea. Hope we can overcome the petrochemical industry stranglehold and get something similar here.
very interesting..thanks.
the focus on climate change is so nebulous it leaves people feeling like there’s nothing they can do and only governments can fix things. the problems can be fixed by ordinary people realising there is much they can do to change things and combined we own a lot of land all of us put together. That;a a lot of land we could each contribute to fixing while the governments get their acts together. For me simole things are never using pesticides. Growing a wide variety of native plants and flowers. Allowing wild patches in the garden. My garden is entirely organic.is full of butterflies birds and bees (and we let our cat roam in the day time. She is outnumbered by far and due to the sheer numbers of birds I don’t worry about her impact). Either side of me are bareen gardnes with lawns neat bushes, weedkillersand zero animal life but they’re not even the worst. Here in UK the cardboard people in the cardboard houses have now started replacing lawn with astro turf. Some people just do not understand the devastation they contriubute to, as though the earth being abused wont affect them. A lot of work needs to be done to educate locally and stop using the phrase “climate change” as though the damage to the natural world is now a done deal that can’t be fixed.
Is that your pet?
great ideas!, I hope the world begins to recycle the things that are causing problems
Really glad to see this video after I saw a video about e waste sent to Accra Ghana it upset me so much but at least we can do our bit and buy something to help.
Love the kookaburra. We do not have those in North Carolina. LOL
If you're waiting for the government to make something economical and efficient, you will always be disappointed.
Private endeavors will always be better and cost effective.
Cool
The little birds just think everything belongs to them don't they? Hopefully he left some fertilizer behind. Lol!
I'd Love to be able to engineer one to get a similar rounded corner shape like the Birdies rectangles. I think it should be fairly straight forward. Just a bigger roll of plastic with some strategically placed supports of different lengths holding its shape like Birdies does. Would love to see if I can get them here in Aotearoa NZ
I wish we could get this in the USA.
Where did you get them from
Sure wish they were available in the US.
I love the idea of recycling products or repurposing them.
Plastic supermarket bags in Woolworths where used to make recycled plastic seating ( like you’d see in a park) but how many seats can you make.
Great idea, only possible downfall would be the absorption on heat due to being black but could also be beneficial warming up the soil, and finally not being able to be circular, but a little bit of give-is okay as long it is not top heavy.
The price point at the moment perhaps is a little on the high side though with it’s popularity increasing may reduce the price in the future.
Must say the price increase a year ago of the Composting Bins at Bunnings for 220L and it’s 400L was ridiculous up at least 25% in one hit.
Mark you did mention about bitumen roads and the use of plastics which is actually a bi-product of producing petroleum, in America they have began using a mixture of plastics in their roads and it only costs 2% more increase in costs.
i'm curious how much you could actually yield out of this
do u have any updates on how this bed performed for you Mark?
Just for your peace of mind a company named Danimer Scientific has patented completely biodegradable (including approval
Of marine biodegradable – the first in the world). They are scaling up production and will hopefully be a major supplier soon. Since it truly biodegrades we won’t really need to worry about recycling plastics and all the inefficiencies that involves.