glee
Garden industry suppliers unveil initiatives to cut waste and grow
sustainable businesses Green gardening is not a fashion or a passing fad – it’s here to stay.
With sustainable growing championed by the likes of BBC Gardeners’ World presenter Monty Don, demand for eco-friendly gardening products is on the up.
he top priority for the nation’s growing band of environmentally conscious consumers is cutting down on single-use plastics, an issue that was propelled to the top of the agenda when Sir David Attenborough’s landmark Blue Planet series highlighted the devastating effect that plastic waste is having on marine wildlife. Exhibitors at this year’s Glee (10 -12 September, NEC Birmingham) are planning to reduce dependency on single-use plastics, while also examining manufacturers’ and suppliers’ efforts to boost recycling and lower carbon footprints. Here, we focus on core gardening – suppliers of goods that help consumers to grow, sow and mow – and investigate what they’re doing to relieve their burden on the planet. Garden products giant Evergreen Garden
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Care says it is “committed to finding new ways to reduce waste” and points out that it has systematically reduced the weight of packaging since 2001 by more than 1,000 tonnes. Recent initiatives include virgin plastic reduction of 800 tonnes from the improvements made to its bottles, caps and sprayers.
An Evergreen Garden Care spokeswoman adds: “We have saved 420 tonnes of plastic with the introduction of recycled material in our compost packaging. Paper has reduced by 600 tonnes, with 95% of cartons made from 100% recycled paper fibres. Packaging recycling on sites has increased by 30% in the last 12 months, with all initiatives saving 2,300 tonnes of carbon dioxide in one year.” Eco-friendly supplier Primeur offers a range of garden products all made from recycled rubber tyres that would otherwise be sent for landfill or burnt. With well over 2.5 billion tyres
manufactured globally every year, the company says finding ways to repurpose the waste rubber has never been more vital. Primeur won a GIMA award in 2018 for its Recycled Garden Borders, followed by the GIMA Sword of Excellence this year for its Recycled Planter range.
Primeur’s Sarah McLafferty says: “We know that recycling waste products has never been more important to our customers and we are already exploring how to expand the range with new innovation. As one of the major importers of doormats to the UK, we are also looking to bring environmentally friendly materials to this category. Our Mighty Mats range already includes mats made with Recycled Rubber and manufactured in a way to reduce pressures on the environment. We are working with our factories to create more recycled and recyclable products.”
GCU August/September 2019
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