Garden centre chain closes all of its 120 drop-off points and ends "popular scheme", due to difficulties finding a company to handle the recycling process.
Garden Centre Group marketing director Lorrie Robertson said: "We ran a flower pot recycling scheme in our garden centres for sometime, which proved very popular with our customers. However, we ran into difficulties when we were unable to find a recycling company with the capability to sort the wide variety of plastics used in pot manufacturing.

"While we are currently unable to offer this service, we are committed to the recycling of waste products and will continue to search for a viable solution to this problem."

The scheme was launched by the group, formerly known as Wyevale, as part of its Plan Apple campaign - a programme designed to address the key environmental issues facing the garden industry - announced in March 2008.

According to a report by Which?, the move means that Dobbies is now the only major garden centre firm to offer a plant pot recycling service. However, Notcutts told DIY Week that a plastic plant pot recycling service is also offered to customers at all of its 19 gardening centres across the UK.

Dobbies sustainability manager Richard Jardine explained the garden centre chain's recycling process: "There is a crate in Dobbies Garden Centres throughout the UK which customers are invited to dispose of their used plant pots.

"The pots are baled along with Dobbies' other plastic waste and sent for recycling or they are offered to local charities, who are able to reuse them. Passing customers have also been known to lift a few for reuse in their own gardens."

Meanwhile, Notcutts also offers a polystyrene recycling scheme for items such as bedding plant trays.