At Brown’s The Florist, we are always looking for new initiatives to reduce our waste and environmental footprint. Here are some of the steps we have taken to date.
We recycle everything we can….this includes our paper, cardboard, hard and soft plastics, cellophane, styrofoam, metal and glass. It takes a bit more effort and space to sort and deal with it all, but we are flower people – we love nature and we want to do everything we can to preserve our planet earth. It does cost more to recycle, and we do have to pass that cost along to our customers…but we feel confident you would want us to be more environmentally responsible.
We are proud to say we initiated the coordination of collection of recyclables for all the businesses at 747 Fort Street, so it is now convenient for everyone in our office tower to recycle too. Thanks to our landlord for working with us on this!
Composting? We are not quite there yet… but we are on the lookout for a feasible way to make this happen. We do use biodegradable plastic bags for our compostable waste, and for now, at least, we know these materials will break down quickly in the land fill. We welcome any suggestion you might have regarding composting.
Coordinated deliveries – We use a delivery service which works for many other businesses besides ourselves. They pool their deliveries four times a day so that each vehicle goes to only one part of the city. This reduces mileage and fuel consumption, emissions, and the cost of delivery.
Environmental Packaging - We are now offering our in-store customers two choices when wrapping their floral bouquets. The first is our traditional option, using recyclable clear cellophane and rice paper. The second is our eco-friendly packaging option, using unbleached recycled paper and raffia. While there is still a need for a small of amount of plastic around the bottom of the stems to keep the paper dry, the environmental impact is less than with our traditional wrap.
Other initiatives to reduce, re-use and recycle….Our labels are made from unbleached recycled paper. We only use plant sleeves when protection from the weather is a must, and they too are made from recycled paper. We re-use Styrofoam peanuts for drainage in our planter baskets. We only print what we must, and we print on both sides of the paper.
Watch for our environmental packaging option to be available on our website in the coming months. It is being refined for use in our delivery trucks and is in the works.
Buying Local - Our goal is to provide our customers with a wide selection of quality flowers every day. We shop internationally when we must, but whenever we can, we buy our products as close to home as possible, thus reducing the amount of fuel required to bring the products to our door. We believe in supporting our local economy and helping to provide jobs in our community. Sometimes it costs more, but it is just the right thing to do.
Fair Trade Farmers – When we do shop internationally we use only trusted suppliers. We know they source out growers who have been inspected to ensure they are using fair labour practices and are following regulations regarding the safe use of pesticides.
What about pesticides? Canadian regulations regarding the safe use of pesticides are much more stringent than in many other countries. More and more, our local growers are using natural predators to control unwanted pests, and growers are inspected frequently to ensure they are following legislation. Sometimes now, we do find pests on some of our flowers....but we are more relaxed about this than we used to be. A few pests are preferable to toxic chemicals. Fewer pesticides - another great reason to buy local whenever we can!
Organic Flowers? Pesticide use is on a rapid decline, and we do see some small local farmers growing organic field flowers; however, we are not yet seeing “organic” crops from the big commercial growers yet. This is partly because they grow hydroponically, inspiring the use of chemical fertilizers, and partly because they are growing ornamental crops – they need to look good, and, of course, they will not be eaten. There is more work to be done here and much will depend on public demand.