I decided to pot on a load of seedlings today, mostly veg. Not having many 3.5" pots I decided I'd have a jaunt up to the nearest garden centre 'Blooms' (now owned by Wyevale)
15 pots in a black plastic tray (with a capillary mat underneath) £8 :o or I could have biodegradeable pots about 5 for £2.80 or something like that but all I wanted was 'normal plastic pots which sell around 15-20p each looking on the web. I spoke to a guy asking where their other pots where and he told me that was all they had, then he suggested peat pots, aren't we supposed to be ditching peat? He looked at me as if I was mad when I said I didn't want to buy peat.
I decided I would look elsewhere, bought the stuff I had in my trolley and walked out of the store. In one corner of the carpark I suddenly noticed a pot recycling area for customers to bring their old pots. I managed to get a sack FULL of perfect 3.5" plant pots, a tray to hold them in and a couple of nice looking terracotta ones too.
I'm so glad I was put off spending £8 in store on 15 pots that were EXACTLY the same size!! ;D
Our local centre doesn't have a recycling corner. It does have a shards bin for teh broken pottery that comes in handy for putting in the bottom of pots.
I think 'peat pots' has become a bit of a generic term for pots that degrade. They all look the the same (like rough cardboard) but some still use peat while others don't - just check the label.