I have an idea that I did not get a chance to try this year.
For hydroponics, the initial cost of the media can be high. I have read of using free sawdust from a sawmill as grow media. Currently there is a crisis of plastic piling up since China stopped buying recyclables. I have read a lot of bad things about where our recycled plastic is ending up, like SE Asia landfills, or even worse, being burned.
When processed, recycled plastic is often made into pellets or shredded plastic that I think has a lot of potential as grow media. I also saw a place selling old vinyl tents for cheap, some of them quite big. I think I could cut a strip of vinyl, sew it into a sock, fill it with plastic pellets, and grow in that. Strawberries are grown in Florida in perlite sacks like that, would be same concept, just drip nutrient solution through them. I would have to test for heavy metals and other contamination. Ideally though, it could be possible to turn trash into food. The cbd hemp I grow makes medicine, so turning trash into medicine wouldn't be so bad, either.
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