CHRISTIANA, Manchester — In any given crop season, imported Perlite usually serves as an essential ingredient of plant growth at the North East Manchester-based Christiana Potato Growers Co-operative Association (CPGCA).

According to General Manager Alvin Murray, plants are grown in coir or coco peat (coconut husks) and water and fertiliser added for nutrients.

Perlite, he said, is “an inert medium” which, among other things, reduces the likelihood of pests and diseases developing in the coir and makes it easier to disinfect or treat if it happens.

It is added on top of the coir in the used car tyres where plants are now grown. The tyres are converted in order that there is no leakage of nutrients.

However, Murray said, Perlite was an expensive line item on the organisation’s budget.

Partly by coincidence four years ago, the co-op discovered that waste plastic, which is a cheaper alternative, could serve the same purpose.

Murray said that weeds were observed “flourishing” on the outside of the coir “grow bags” (plastic bags with coir in which plants were once grown).

He also said that a Caribbean Agricultural Research Development Institute officer was critical of the fact that in the greenhouse movement plastic roofs and side nettings are simply disposed after they have served the specific purpose.

The co-op’s leadership was prompted to explore the extent of the possibilities of their investment in plastic.

To test the practicality of the product, Murray said, plastic sheets from the greenhouses and plastic bags which would have been discarded were cut into “half-inch to one-inch strips” and stuffed into used fertiliser bags with a maximum of three tomato plants per bag.

All the nutrients were supplied.

The result of the findings was that the nutrients were supplied in the same way as planting in the plastic coir grow bags.

Further to the experiment, Murray said that shredded plastic bottles, which are considered to be more abundant and heavier, were also tried.

Plastic, he said, was now being used with a concentration on the cultivation of Irish potatoes and ginger.

It has also proven to be an effective method with lettuce, sweet peppers, and sweet potatoes.

With funding of $2.5 million from the Environmental Foundation of Jamaica and the co-op, a shedding plant has since been set up at the organisation’s property in Coleyville.

A partnership has been formed with mainly Christiana High, Christiana Moravian Primary, Knox High, DeCarteret College and Manchester High in the parish for the supply of plastic bottles.

“Forty used metal drums were (sourced) from Gray’s Pepper Products in Westmoreland (and) were placed in the schools for collection of plastic bottles; and a few large cement bags from the Cement Factory for bulk transport to our Coleyville facility,” he said.

Murray said that the monthly demand of plastic bottles for the various stages of plant growth at the co-op’s farm is 10,000kg.

However, transportation cost has proven to be “unbearable”.

“We transported more air space than plastics and we soon realised that it was easier to go to Martins Hill dump (in Manchester) where volunteers collected and bagged the plastic bottles and transported them to Coleyville. (It was) cheaper than to drive around to schools….” he said.

With further partnerships, Murray believes that more could be done in developing the venture.

“If funding is had, we could upgrade (the) plant to have mobile shredding (vehicle equipped to shred on site) at schools, other institutions — shops, bars, fast-food places… We are currently investigating even using plastics to reclaim mined-out bauxite lands for better crop production,” he said.