Although Seeds of Change advertises primarily as a 100% organic seed retailer, their catalog offers a lot more. Full of how-to articles, including one on "Space-Challenged Gardening," it's also a sort of pro-Earth gardening manual. In addition to information on seed starting, soil building, ecology, and agronomy, or how to grow, most of their seeds, the catalog offers seeds for veggies, salad mixes, cover crops, herbs, and flowers . . . plus rhubarb crowns, strawberry plants, and apple trees. They carry a lot of tools, including a pretty nice precision seeder and a pop-up greenhouse. I've ordered seeds from them for several years, and have never been disappointed. Their Dragon Carrot, Strawflower, and Curiosity Nigella have performed particularly well for me. I do wish that they'd return to paper seed envelopes (they switched to plastic last year); a minor detail. Seeds of Change is the real deal when it comes to outfitting the greenest of gardeners.
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We made the change from paper packs to PE (plastic) in 2007.
ReplyDeleteThe main reasoning was as follows;
1. Paper seed packs can only be legally labeled and sold for a 6 month time period, whereas the plastic packs can be labeled for 24 months (water and gas impermeable). This hugely increases the efficiency of packing these and reduces the need to discard packs after only 6 months of not being sold
2. The intent of the re-sealable plastic packs is to re-use them, not to recycle or discard. They are number 1 plastic so can be recycled at most centers. If discarded into a landfill, they do not degrade until a very long time, as does paper. In the absence of light and air, landfills really do not degrade, which is why we promote not throwing our packs away.
3. The plastic packs compare favorably with paper packs in their environmental impact. We know this seems counter intuitive, however, (recycled) paper also uses energy and resources, as much as plastic does.
4. We well realize that plastic is made from non renewable resources and this is not the ideal packaging material for our organic seeds. We therefore are working hard to create a packaging substrate that would combine the functionality of the plastic packs (24 month shelf life and re-sealable) with much lower impact on the environment. Notwithstanding the fact that any package material has to be manufactured, and therefore will have an impact, we are trying to find a way to use compostable material (starch or cellulose based) in a functioning seed pack. This does not yet exist, but we hope sometime soon, to have such a seed pack made and used. We understand the concerns and are working hard to find a more ideal solution.
We hope the above is helpful.
Kind thanks,
Seeds of Change