|
|
 |
Going Green: A cross-country report
A cross-country report |
|
Written by Rebecca Schwarz
|
 It’s not easy being green. Or is it? To find out, we spoke with florists from across Canada to find out what they’re doing to foster a more environmentally friendly shop. From vermicology to recycled wrap, we unearthed (no pun intended) a wide range of eco-friendly practices. We also discovered that for many florists, going green has a lot to do with the community they serve, whether it’s customers returning containers for reuse or local compost collection.
Don Cameron, owner of La Jardinere Flower Market in Hamilton, Ont., has been striving to create an environmentally friendly shop and is familiar with the challenges and the rewards. Luckily, composting pickup is available in his community. All of the shop’s green waste goes into bins the city provides, and is turned into soil. By separating his garbage and recycling as much as he can, Cameron puts out only one garbage bag per week.
Cameron is also a fan of vermicology: “In a container you have these worms, we put some of our green waste in there, we have a couple bins of that, in the basements. It makes nice, dark soil, and we use it in our potted plants.”
In addition to keeping his Australian wiggler worms happy and well-fed, Cameron has taken further steps in his efforts to go green. “Last year we replaced all our incandescent bulbs, big savings in our energy consumption. We recycle or compost our plants. Even for printing receipts, we only do that if the customer wants it. We recycle all our boxes. For card stock, I’ll buy recycled paper.”
Cameron would like to reduce his water consumption, but at present doesn’t have a process in place to do so. He’d also like to support more local growers but says the demand just isn’t strong enough. “I try to support all our local growers, but unfortunately in the industry no one wants local roses, they want Ecuadorian.”
Lastly, Cameron wishes someone would come up with a more eco-friendly method of wrapping orders. When we spoke, a snowstorm was raging across Ontario, and Cameron was busy double-wrapping all his orders.
He might want to consult Isabelle Gauthier, an employee at Bardou Artisan Fleuriste in Quebec City. Her shop plans to switch over to biodegradable cellophane. The wrap is made from corn, and is manufactured by a French company. “It’s a little more expensive, but is thicker than the regular ones. In wintertime that’s what we need. We plan to change over in a year or two.”
Gauthier was introduced to the product at a trade show. Although the shop recycles its boxes, it doesn’t compost green waste. Neither does Giuseppe Decarolis, owner of Don Belvedere Florist in Montreal. Decarolis does buy local products as frequently as he can, such as tulips from Ontario.
Pam Goold of Goold’s Nurseries Ltd. in Sussex, N.B., buys local, too. Through a wholesaler, she also buys from Sierra Eco, a company that specializes in eco-friendly flowers. In addition, Goold’s has been recycling and composting for at least 15 years. The staff also rely on their customers to help them stay green. “We have a ton of customers that will clean out their containers and bring them back, and the cello wraps and the Aqua picks, anything that cannot be thrown out they bring back to us.”
Goold’s doesn’t stop there. “We don’t waste any more water than we need to. As much as possible, when we deliver them to the door, we’ll take the plastic bag off an order and use it again. We only box when absolutely necessary. We drive a smaller, more efficient vehicle, but that’s mainly for the price of gas.”
Leisjea Horseman, owner of Floral Magic in Christopher Lake, Sask., pays attention to how she wraps orders. “We use brown paper to package our orders, no dye. We mostly wrap with newspaper, wax paper, and brown paper.”
In addition to raw, unbleached tissue, Horse-man uses brown paper bags made from recycled materials for her orders, and has plans to introduce even greener methods. “We’re going to try a wrap that goes over the top of the stems, it’s a foam wrap, I would think it would be better than all those picks. My rep was here and we saw it in a magazine.”
As at Goold’s in New Brunswick, many of Horseman’s clients bring back reusable materials, like Aqua picks, which she bleaches for reuse.
Customers of Mickey’s Flowers in Wetaskiwin, Alta., also bring back containers to owner Bonnie Mieske. In addition, Mieske returns all her reusable boxes to her wholesaler in Edmonton, taking the time to flatten them and then drive them back. That attention to environmental detail even extends to such mundane tasks as cleaning empty buckets. “We sift our water, all of the green pieces go through a sieve and get recycled,” she says.
For her orders, Mieske uses bamboo sticks, and sheets of wax tissue, plus newspaper for extra packing. She’s also banned the use of aerosols in the shop.
Elizabeth Ghiz-Fay, owner of Elizabeth’s Garden in Charlottetown, P.E.I., has devised some creative ways to reuse waste, both green and paper.
“I use stems from the flowers to extend the cardette holders in tall arrangements, I use the excess paper from Teleflora orders for note paper, and I use takeout containers and trays to hold tape, pins, and elastic bands.”
To go green, a florist needs more than just initiative. If the florist’s community makes recycling and composting easier, then that’s half the battle. More eco-friendly products, and ideas can help, too. The greatest motivation, however, may be customer demand. If more clients want an eco-friendly bouquet that didn’t cost the Earth, then it will be up to the industry to provide it.
|
|
|
