crushing it -curved folding of cylinders

This year I plan to plant 100 acorns. This requires a similar number of plant pots and I’m sure I don’t have enough. Not to worry, grab a beer can, roll a meter or so of paper around the end of it and fold the bottom of the tube up along a curved crease or two to create a locking arch shape. The two remaining flaps get pushed down as you take it off the can, and cause the curved creases to ‘pop through’ to the other side. The bottom of the pot ends up an ellipse with a rising dome shape sitting above two triangular flaps.

The interaction of the first two folds creates interesting potential locking mechanisms, driven by the ratio of the height of the flaps versus the can diameter. The tube wall and the curved creases interact too – the tube wall is not really free to move (especially when full of earth), so it constraints the 3d rotation of the curved crease which in turn means the folded pleat only has one stable folded position in space.

What exact dimensions and folding pattern is the strongest is an open question.

Emissions wise, the pots are about 5g in paper or plastic. I’ll measure emissions in kgCO2eq throughout.

Paper emissions of production are 643kg per tonne. There will be a little more as it rots too, probably another 500kg per tonne based on cellulose chemical formula. https://www.transitionpathwayinitiative.org/publications/49.pdf

I cant find a clear answer on what plastic flowerpots use, it’s seemingly a good place to loose the low grade stuff. Assuming it’s HDPE, that varies between 1200kg per tonne for virgin plastic and 280kg per tonne for ideal recycling. The plant pots will be reused but won’t get recycled due to dirt and UV damage. My local black bags go for incineration. That’s another 3000kg per tonne. https://www.basf.com/global/documents/en/sustainability/we-drive-sustainable-solutions/circular-economy/chemcycling/Intern_Christian%2520Kr%25C3%25BCger_BASF%2520Dialog%2520Forum.pdf

The paper pots, while not as good as you might hope, have the edge, unless I quietly bury my plastic waste somewhere in the garden, the garden I’ve only just cleared half a tonne of buried plastic waste from!