industry news GCA supports members to reduce plastic waste


The Garden Centre Association (GCA) has announced it is encouraging its members to do what they can to help reduce the amount of plastic going to landfill. Two of its member centres recently worked with Herefordshire and Worcestershire authorities to get non-black PP plastic pots and trays accepted in household and kerbside recycling bins.


Will Blake, director at St Peter’s Garden Centre in Norton, Worcester, said: “There has been a lot of discussions among GCA members about how we can help reduce plastic waste, especially as there is a large amount of it in the garden centre industry currently. “Myself, along with Nick Baker at Webbs of Wychbold garden centre at Droitwich Spa, have recently been in touch with the local authorities to see how we could help. “Nick wrote to the local councils, only to find out, that many will not accept plastic plant pots


in recycling, however I visited the reprocessing plant for our counties and discussed it further with them. They had heard of the taupe plant pot and welcomed a visit to discuss the situation. I took a whole selection of PP pots with me – Popplemann Teku, Taupe, black and also some trays.


“We put all the pot types through the plant, and the good news is that, every single non- black PP pot was identified by the infrared scanners and sorted into its correct plastic category.


“The particular company I visited, Severn Waste Services, were extremely helpful, and really appreciated my input. Within a week of the visit, they had updated their website (which lists exactly what can and can’t be placed in the recycling bins) and they met with the county council to advise of the acceptance of non-black PP plant pots, which is great news for the people of Herefordshire and


Squire's opens environmentally friendly children's area in Milford


Squire’s Garden Centre in Milford has announced it has opened a brand new environmentally friendly children’s play area. Utilising FSC wood, it contains a seesaw, slide, multiplay unit, plus nature boards to help children identify birds and trees.


The company has confirmed the new play area is the first part of improvement plans at the garden centre, which include: A new Café Bar, which will be 50% bigger with a full interior refurbishment, air


GCU August/September 2019


conditioning, plus a new alfresco seating area, a larger shop with increased ranges to give customers even more choice, and new toilets. The project is sympathetic to the local


area, building on the heritage of what’s already there and enhancing it, ensuring that the garden centre continues to be a great space for the local community to meet and enjoy.


Squire’s in Milford is open as usual throughout the development, and the whole project will be completed by spring 2020.


Ricky Bowness (centre manager) in the new play area at Squire’s in Milford


Worcestershire.”


All non-black PP plastic pots and trays can be accepted in household and kerbside recycling in the Herefordshire and Worcestershire areas. Mr Blake added: “As garden centres, St Peter’s and Webbs of Wychbold are now actively advertising this to our customers, both instore using posters, but also through social media.


“We were initially inspired to do something about this issue after David Chilvers of Bransford Webbs Plant Company, which is a GCA Associate Member, pioneered a taupe pot initiative in 2018.


“A group made up of the largest growers in the UK, came together and established that they needed to change the colour of the plant pot, to enable them to be recycled. This has now been widely adopted and the majority of plants grown in the UK, from spring 2019, are now done so in recyclable PP plant pots.”


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