Simply put, sustainability for us is about making small changes in our working practices to help look after the environment, our economy, and our livelihoods so that future generations can enjoy life too.
We know that the flower industry uses significant energy resources for growing and transportation which is far from ideal, but it does sustain economies and communities around the world and sustainability is about more than simply the environment.
To run our business sustainably is a process and we’re on the journey, continually adapting the ways we work to support this aim.
Here’s some of the things we are doing:
- We've eliminated single use plastic in our business. Most notably, we're 100% floral foam free (plastic based green coloured Oasis blocks). This plastic based floral support material (still widely used by florists throughout the world), does not decompose, enters the water system, sheds a fine dust in use and most goes into landfill. We use a little biodegradable basalt-based organic alternative for some wedding and funeral work. We occasionally use plastic trays and pots and if we do these are re-used numerous times. We use wood, cardboard and bamboo-based alternatives eg as card holders and trays for flowers instead of plastic
- During the growing season, from mid-April to early October we buy as much locally grown and British grown flowers as possible. The UK flower growing industry is not producing (currently) in the quantities required by UK retail suppliers like us to satisfy consumer demand.
- We prioritise British made and designed product lines and brands in our buying process
- Our work has minimal packaging…who wants a bouquet of folded paper, metallic and plastic film? The little that we do use, eg for our bouquets and vases of flowers is recycled and recyclable, only the small square of cellophane used for water bubbles in our bouquets cannot be recycled currently. We are exploring alternatives for these currently. We use beautiful satin ribbons which can be reused numerous times.
- We recycle and compost as much of our trade waste as possible using a reliable, local contractor.
- We don’t use fake flowers or foliage - it may last longer than fresh, and in theory can be re-used but it’s usually plastic based, gets dirty, dusty and discoloured fairly quickly and so is not re-used and ends up in landfill. And it's not very pretty!
- Our suppliers use sea and road, rather than air, to transport goods.
- Our delivery service is restricted to our local area and for several years now, has been outsourced to a trusted local courier, rather than us running our own van. Using couriers, where their journeys carry multiple items on a given route makes sense.
Our journey towards work more sustainably continues...