Our Environmental Policy
How can flowers composed partly of plastic be a better sustainable option for my business?
We get asked this question on a regular basis. Below we compare fresh flowers with our faux equivalent
Carbon footprint
Fresh Flowers
90% of fresh flowers are imported into the U.K, the main suppliers are Kenya, South America and Holland. Each stem may travel thousands of miles by air to reach its destination. It will then be used in one flower display over a period of only one week.
Centrepiece Flowers
100% of our artificial flowers are imported into the U.K from China. Each stem will travel from a port by sea freight before being used repeatedly in a flower displays every week over a period of 4 years. So one artificial stem transported by sea is the equivalent of 208 fresh stems flown on 208 different flights.
Energy Usage
Fresh Flowers
Fresh flowers require refrigeration during transportation, this “cold chain” starts with the grower loading cut flowers into refrigerated containers, the flowers are kept refrigerated over the entire travel period until they reach enormous refrigerated auction houses, they are again packed onto refrigerated transport until they reach the florist who will continue to chill the flowers until they are delivered to their final destination. Refrigerated transport uses on average 25% more fuel than the average vehicle.
Centrepiece Flowers
Artificial flowers are entirely unaffected by temperature fluctuation, and no regulation is required during transportation and storage, artificial flowers can be closely packed so take up less space during transportation. Our electricity bills in the studio are close to zero as we only use energy for light and very little heating to keep us warm.
Wastage & Recycling
Fresh Flowers
Fresh flowers are cellophane wrapped by the grower for protection during the lengthy transportation stage, this plastic is used for every 10 or 20 stems and is immediately binned by the florist. The majority of rubbish produced by a florist shop is non recyclable single use plastic. Tropical flowers such as orchids will also have small plastic tubes attached to each stem.
Centrepiece Flowers
Artificial flowers are composed of metal, fabric and plastic. This plastic component is considered a multi use plastic as its life span is several years and is being used to counteract the disposable plastics produced by the equivalent fresh product. Our flowers arrive tightly packed in recyclable cardboard boxes which we continue to use to store the stems thereafter. No single use plastics are used by our company and once our products have finished their life with us they are then upcycled as we donate our end of line stock for further use in care homes or school art departments.
Water Consumption
Fresh Flowers
Water - Huge amounts of water are used in the production of fresh flowers. It takes 10L of water to grow one rose!! Once the flowers are picked they continue to require a water supply which is changed several times on the journey to their final water filled vase.
Centrepiece Flowers
Whilst water is used in the production of artificial flowers (approx. 10 litres of water per kilo of plastic) this is a tiny fraction of the amount of water used for fresh flowers.
Green Impact
Fresh Flowers
Fresh flower contracts are changed weekly due to the transient nature of the product. Every 7 days a florist van is on the road delivering flowers to already congested and over polluted roads.
Centrepiece Flowers
Artificial flower contracts are changed on a monthly basis so our vans are on the road 75% less than the fresh flower equivalent. Furthermore, we aim to use electric vans for all transportation by November 2024.
Our pledge to the environment
Zero single use plastics in our organisation
To responsibly recycle end of line products for the benefit of local schools and care homes.
To continue to offset our carbon foot print by planting 48 trees monthly and removing 4.7 tons of Co2 from the environment
To actively promote environmental change
To use electric vehicle for transportation of our products from November 2024.