Hi all.
In New Zealand a couple months ago I built the prototype for a very cheap, easy, high volume and reasonably portable greenhouse design, largely intended for use in urban type environments.
Details here:
http://urbangreenhouse.blogspot.com/2011_06_01_archive.html
And for the last month or so I've been in Paris looking to set up a collective project with the aim of growing large amounts of food within the city.
The biggest problem we've had has been the plastic. In NZ I was lucky enough to get a good deal from a local garden supplies store, but even then it constituted two thirds the cost of the entire project. Here in Paris it's more like 80%, and we'd have to travel 100 km out of the city to get even that.
The original idea for the greenhouse design was to use plastic mulch or construction film, but they break down in sunlight in a very short time; weeks to months. I've looked into other sources of plastic, preferably something mass produced and ideally disposed of.
Any ideas? It only needs to be something easy to get hold of, be able to last even only 6-12 months outside, and let at least 30% light through.
Being able to source this would make this project and urban farming as a whole vastly more viable.
Cheers,
Daniel.