A High Court ruling yesterday means that millions of gardeners in the UK will have to pay more for plants in plastic pots as the disposable pots are seen as "packaging". Garden centres must now pay, under the Producer Responsibility Obligations (Packaging Waste) Regulations 1997, for a proportion of the pots to be recycled. The cost to the industry, estimated to be in the region of £7 million, will be passed on to consumers.

Sir Teddy Taylor, the arch-eurosceptic Tory MP, said that the ruling on the regulations, which were brought in after an EU decision, shows "how daft" the EU is becoming and that "This makes the European commissioners look like Flowerpot Men. They should be dumped on the compost heap".