I'm doing a container garden this year, and most of my containers thus far are free buckets that I got from bakeries etc. Since the buckets were use to hold food materials, I haven't worried overly much about how safe they were to use with my vegetable and herb plants.

The other day, however, I was given more free buckets, and I'd like your opinions on how safe they are to use. Two were originally used to hold laundry detergent with bleach. Another was for joint compound, but it had a paint bucket inside it, and is now full of paint fumes as well as whatever residue it may have had before. And the last one was used to hold chlorine granules for a pool.

Obviously, I'll be washing these out thoroughly. But I also know that plastic can absorb stuff that it's been in contact with. Do I need to worry about dangerous chemicals leaching back into my soil if I use these?

Thanks for your advice.

-Kimberly