• Sustainability

    Sustainability

    As a family-run business, with our roots in gardening, we understand the importance of embracing sustainability and caring for our environment. Take a look at our eco-credentials to explore what we are doing across the business to reduce our impact on the environment, and discover what you can do at home to help! 

What We Are Doing...

 

Energy Recovery

 

Across all our centres we recover energy from 38% of our waste materials, including sending all our food waste to anaerobic digestion to create electricity and organic fertiliser.

 

Our wood waste is also used to make biomass or chipboard.

 

 

 

Supporting UK Growers

 

  • Over 80% of our outdoor plants are grown here in the UK
     
  • We only work with plant suppliers who do not use neonicotinoids on their plants, as these are widely known for harming and killing vital wildlife such as bees

Peat-Free Compost

 

  • Over 60% of our compost range is now peat-free (we’d like to get this to 100% as soon as supply allows)
     
  • Our growers are working with peat reduced compost to grow their plants, while some suppliers have already gone 100% peat-free

Recycling

 

  • 61% of our waste is recycled, including over 50 tonnes of cardboard every year (that’s about the same weight as half a plane), this is all made into new packaging.
     
  • We offer a recycling service for plastic plant pots and trays for our customers.
     
  • While currently, only 1% of our waste ends up in landfill, we are always looking for new ways to eradicate our wastage as much as possible.
     
  • Our aim is to achieve zero waste to landfill, which we have previously achieved.

 

Water Usage

 

  • Where we can, we use recycled water to keep our outdoor plants happy and healthy
     
  • Our water trays are filled to quench the plants' thirst and the remaining water is then emptied back into a tub to be used again later

Our Restaurants

 

  • We source all produce locally, whenever we can
     
  • Instead of harsh chemicals in our cleaning products we use a solution of salt and water, which is then electrolysed by a small electric current to create an effective disinfectant which is 100% eco-friendly and kills 99.99% of germs
     
  • We separate all our waste so that it can be disposed of in the most effective and sustainable way
     
  • Reduced single-use plastic, removing sauce sachets and biscuit wrappers
     
  • Reduced our napkin usage by 70%
     
  • Moved away from plastic drinks bottles to glass alternatives
     
  • Changed to milk pouches from cartons, creating 82% less plastic

Sustainable Packaging

 

  • We only offer paper bags or a jute Bag for Life in our centres rather than plastic, we have recently introduced a carrier bag charge to reduce the amount of bags, therefore waste, that we produce 
     
  • We use compostable cellophane for our cheese packaging in Woburn Sands Food Market
     
  • We have reduced the amount of plastic packaging by selling loose products where possible
     
  • Our growers are increasing their usage of recycled plastic pots and trays 
     
  • All our propagation ranges are now recyclable or made from recycled materials

Renewable Energy

 

  • Our Woburn Sands solar panel creates on average 145,000kWh on electricity annually, enough electricity to power 50 homes for a year!
     
  • Electric car charger points are available at Woburn Sands
     
  • Our Head Office and Woburn Sands centre are heated with a Biomass boiler with net-zero C02 emissions

Our Suppliers

 

  • We work with suppliers who are eco-conscious and care about their impact on the environment
     
  • We’re constantly evolving our product ranges to offer more eco-friendly alternatives

 

How You Can Help...

 

 

Get Planting

 

  • If 30 million gardeners planted 1m² of perennial plants in their gardens, this would be equivalent to heating between 86,000 to more than one million homes for a year, (RHS, 2022) so dig out your gardening gloves and get stuck in!
     
  • Growing or buying UK-grown cut flowers can save up to 7.9kg of carbon per bunch compared with buying imported bunches. (RHS, 2022) Where you can always try to buy locally sourced flowers or grow your own in your back garden.
     
  • If all 30 million UK gardeners planted a medium-sized tree, they would store enough carbon equivalent to drive you more than 11 million times around our planet. (RHS, 2022) Shop our range of trees in-store now!
     
  • Plant a variety of flowers in your garden so bees have access to nectar from March to October. Bees particularly love traditional cottage garden flowers and native wildflowers, like primrose, buddleia, and marigolds. (How to bee friendly, 2022)

Make Your Own Compost

 

  • Every 1kg of homemade compost typically saves over 0.1kg of fossil CO₂ emissions, which could save more than 5.1 kg of carbon, per gardener, every year. (RHS, 2022)
    Creating your own compost with compost maker is easy to do and ensures any food waste goes to good use. 

 

Green Energy

 

  • If the 21% of UK gardeners using power tools switched from fossil fuel to green energy electric-powered tools, it would save enough carbon equivalent to drive around the planet 29,820 times. (RHS, 2022)

Create a Home For Wildlife

 

  • Create a bug hotel to give a home to insects and wildlife in your own back garden.
     
  • Encouraging wildlife into your green spaces will help our eco systems to thrive and fight back against climate change.