Who doesn’t love houseplants? They’re pretty and make your apartment more homely, they’re relatively easy to take care of and they don’t cost fortunes. I personally have 11, and my pride and joy is my Kentia palm, which is almost as tall as me! How cool is that?
Houseplants have been around more or less always, but they have gotten especially popular in the last decade or two. It’s been estimated that approximately 80 % of 16–24-year-olds own at least one houseplant. For some, they even replace pets – people talk to them, name them, shake them to make the plants feel like they’re actually outside in the wind. Taking care of your plants is very rewarding.
Plant miles
As wonderful as these plants are, they have some downsides and possibly aren’t as green as people think. A phrase I’ve been seeing floating around the internet is plant miles. My Kentia palm, for example, must have travelled a long, long way before it ended up in my apartment, since its natural habitat is actually in the in Lord Howe Island in the South Pacific. Of course, not each plant is individually transported, but this is still a factor you should consider before getting a plant.
Plant pots
An even bigger problem than plant miles are the pots the plants come in. Most plants come in these so-called nursery pots, which are made of plastic. These pots are quite flimsy and can break down into microplastics, which is incredibly harmful for the environment. Recycling these plastic pots can also be difficult, since quite many recycling centers don’t accept the pots because the pots are contaminated with dirt. Usually, people like to re-pot their plants quite quickly into a more durable pot, and the most popular materials for these pots are terracotta and ceramic, which, unfortunately, aren’t terrific options either when it comes to the environment. They’re not biodegradable and producing them takes a lot of power, since they need to fired at very high temperatures.
Peat
And as if this isn’t enough, also some of the soil used in houseplants is problematic. Some plants are sold in peat, which can take thousands of years to form and removing it from ecosystems can be very harmful for them.
Should you worry?
For plant lovers like me, this can seem quite depressing. So, should you throw your plants away and start a new hobby? No. Every hobby has an environmental impact of some sort and owning plants can be done responsibly as well. Try to find alternatives to peat, propagate plants instead of always buying new ones and most importantly, recycle the plant pots.
