Plastic; No

Cleaning out our makeshift garden shed, I encountered a pile of empty potting mix and mulch bags. Dirty and large, they are not suitable to put in the bin reserved for recycling plastic bags at Coles supermarkets and they are a nuisance taking up space in the tiny shed while I wait for the date of our next Council "Renew" collection, which will collect them twice a year. I was planning to buy some more potting mix and a bale of mulch but have decided not to purchase any more garden supplies in plastic. Both mulch and potting mix alternatives exist in my own back yard!
Mulch: Acacia implexa , a small tree, has dropped copious thin, nitrogenous leaves under it's canopy- enough to mulch all my pots and some of the garden beds as well.
Potting Mix: The potting mix is another story; good drainage is essential. I will experiment making potting mix from compost and whatever free draining materials I can find around the place and see what happens. What free draining materials? Well firstly I have some Pearlite- as well as some washed river sand- both are free draining. I will use the old supplies up and never buy any more before I resort to plan number 2, which is to crush and break up the numerous dirty old polystyrene boxes in which I have been growing veggies. I will break the polystyrene into fairly large chunks as I don't want to inhale the dust that fine crushing would create. If plants don't thrive in my home-made mix, I will replace them with pants that don't mind poor drainage. If that doesn't work, I will abandon growing pretty flowering natives in pots altogether and just plant directly into soil, give away my pots and enjoy a low maintenance habitat garden at home whilst continuing to grow vegetables in my community plot. By that time I will be in my seventies and I will appreciate not watering pots daily in summer and needing to re-pot every 3-5 years.