Squire’s Garden Centres has announced a number of changes in its bid to reduce its carbon footprint and drive to be increasingly more sustainable.
Only ‘home compostable’ carrier bags and boot liners are available across all Squire’s garden centres, replacing biodegradable bags, for easier composting. Made from vegetable starch, the new bags and liners can be added to garden or food compost bins to break down. In addition, a new reusable 100% natural cotton bag-for-life will be available for purchase at centres, encouraging customers to return using their own handy shopping bag. Charitable donations will be made from both the sale of the new recyclable carrier and cotton ‘bag for life ‘bags.
New, ‘reuse & recycle’ stations have been introduced to all 16 garden centres, enabling customers to easily recycle plastic pots, trays and compost bags. Working closely with one of the UK’s leading recycling providers, each garden centre prepares the waste from the three recycling bins for collection. This material is then 100% UK recycled in the most appropriate and efficient way, with nothing going to landfill, prepared ready for re-manufacturing into new everyday items.
A further change this spring sees the introduction of sustainably sourced raffia and plant sleeves for garden centre gift wrapping.
Ross McEwan, Squire’s sustainability manager, said, “We hope these customer-facing initiatives demonstrate our absolute commitment to being more sustainable as a business. Early indicators are extremely encouraging, with a positive response from customers to our new Bin Stations for example, which have been very welcomed and well-used.
“In addition to these new sustainability-focused introductions, Squire’s is certified zero waste to landfill and has Planet Mark* certification for our total carbon emissions reduction for the last 3 years. We are proud to continue our drive for local sourcing of our plants, with 85% of our plants now sourced from UK nurseries. We have pledged to do the right thing for plants, the planet and people. We strive to improve all the time. Each small step is significant for us, our customers and future generations.”
