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Is it safe to grow veg for consumption in plastic ?

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  • 10-04-2019 11:47pm
    #1
    barrymanilow
    Registered Users Posts: 548 ✭✭✭


    I have two unused plastic wheelie bins and I was planning on cutting them in half to make 4 containers for growing potatoes in this week.


    Just one small thing playing in the back of my mind is the possibility of plastic leaching into the soil and contaminating the spuds.


    I was thinking that if I lined the containers with burlap sacks then this would act as a barrier to any leaching .


    Anyone have any insights ? Am I being overly paranoid or is the plastic of the wheelie bins possibly going to make the spuds toxic ? I assume its not BHP Phalantes free plastic


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    #2
    GrumpyMe
    Registered Users Posts: 1,195 ✭✭✭GrumpyMe


    barrymanilow wrote: »
    I have two unused plastic wheelie bins and I was planning on cutting them in half to make 4 containers for growing potatoes in this week.


    Just one small thing playing in the back of my mind is the possibility of plastic leaching into the soil and contaminating the spuds.


    I was thinking that if I lined the containers with burlap sacks then this would act as a barrier to any leaching .


    Anyone have any insights ? Am I being overly paranoid or is the plastic of the wheelie bins possibly going to make the spuds toxic ? I assume its not BHP Phalantes free plastic


    I think you are over estimating the capacity to act as a barrier of burlap. Can I suggest you knock the wheelie bin use on the head and just use the burlap alone? https://youtu.be/PL_gMmK3UtU


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    #3
    Lumen
    Registered Users Posts: 31,025 ✭✭✭✭Lumen


    I wouldn't worry about the plastic. The soil isn't going to be waterlogged, the temperature is going to be low, the surface area to volume ratio is small, and the amount of chemicals leached is miniscule (nanograms/L in the worst case).

    Do you have plastic water pipes in your house? Do you eat canned food, or any food that comes in plastic packaging?


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