In This Issue
Blue Diamond acquires Mere Park Garden Centre
Christmas slows but total sales grow
Royal Canin to launch new Sensory feline wet range
Garden centre sales level out but still ahead of 2019 says HTA
LifestyleGarden joins fight against plastic pollution and world poverty
OASE wins two new product awards at AQUA 2021
Honeyfield's unveils 'industry first' bird food eco-packaging at PATS Telford
Poinsettia growers predict best-ever Christmas sales
New-look café bar and food hall for Squire’s Wokingham
Alan Roper wins Director of the Year Award
Tickets selling fast for Cherry Lane’s festive events 
Time to get potting says elho
Keter expands popular shed range to offer more selling options to retailers
British Garden Centres to sponsor Illumination Street for second year
Glee-full time at the NEC - GTN October 2021 Issue available on-line
Garden Project Manager – Greenfingers Charity
Plant Area Manager – Full Time – Alternate Weekends – Twickenham
Get your copy of GTN Xtra
Our Gardening Club is a big hit says T&M
Julia joins Wyevale Nurseries trainee management scheme
The best of last week's
Former LOFA secretary Phil Gibbs receives prison sentence for fraud
Bestsellers Top 50 charts every week
Buy your subscription to the GTN Bestsellers printed weekly newsletter
Situations Vacant
Garden Project Manager – Greenfingers Charity
Salary: Negotiable
 
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Plant Area Manager – Full Time – Alternate Weekends – Twickenham
Salary: £40+ Depending On Experience
 
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LifestyleGarden joins fight against plastic pollution and world poverty

Sustainable furniture manufacturer LifestyleGarden has teamed up with the Plastic Bank organisation in its campaign to clear the world’s waterways of plastic waste and improve lives of impoverished communities.

 

To date the collaboration has enabled LifestyleGarden to create a new version of its iconic Nassau collection (see picture on opening page), made exclusively from materials known as Social Plastic®.

 

Sustainability and appositive environmental impact central to LifestyleGarden’s approach, from reducing waste and lowering consumption of resources and energy, to ensuring that employees are well-educated about environmental issues. As many retailers will know, LifestyleGarden shook up the outdoor furniture market with the introduction of its DuraOcean chair in 2019, repurposing plastic marine waste into stylish garden furniture. Since its launch, DuraOcean has helped to recycle more than 204,000kg (240 tonnes) of ocean plastic. The new collaboration with Plastic Bank and the use of Social Plastic gives consumers the chance to effect real change in the lives of people who are struggling, helping to help build a brighter future for people in poverty.

 

 

What is Social Plastic®?

Social Plastic is a game-changing initiative. It is ethically sourced recycled material that drives environmental, social and economic impact. Local collectors in vulnerable coastal communities exchange plastic waste for premiums to help them provide basic family necessities such as groceries, cooking fuel, school tuition, and health insurance. Plastic Bank is virtually turning plastic waste into gold by creating ethical recycling centres in coastal communities across the globe, where the materials can then be reprocessed for reintroduction into the manufacturing supply chain.

 

In simple terms, local people join Plastic Bank as collectors, gathering plastic waste that has been dumped in coastal locations. The materials are sorted by colour and type, and are weighed. The value is then exchanged for premiums. Collected material, reborn as Social Plastic, can then be sold to manufacturers, creating a closed-loop supply chain.

 

Plastic Bank has targeted countries with extremely high rates of plastic pollution and poverty – currently Brazil, the Philippines, Indonesia, Egypt, and Haiti – where the lack of disposal infrastructure and greater dependency on single-use packaging results in a disproportionate amount of pollution. It refers to this global network of mini recycling markets as an ecosystem that empowers disadvantaged communities and helps them to transcend poverty by providing an opportunity to collect and trade plastic waste as a currency.

 

So, what’s the catch?

There isn’t one. Even though Social Plastic costs a little more than virgin plastic, it’s perceived as value for money because it provides a social benefit - a path out of poverty for its collectors. Lifestyle Garden believes that stockists demonstrating social responsibility in this way will reap the rewards of added consumer respect.

 

LifestyleGarden has now launched a range of Nassau Social Plastic furniture boasting all of the same benefits as the original Nassau collection – a stylish, vibrant set of outdoor and indoor furniture with extreme weather resistance and complete recyclability at end of life. Within this new collection, every Nassau chair will be made from the equivalent of 175 recycled plastic bottles, with each chair directly contributing to vulnerable communities supported by Plastic Bank. The company has set a target to recycle five million plastic bottles through this range in 2022.

 

Lifestyle Garden offers these tips about how businesses can make a difference

  • Educate yourself  As well as ‘No Poverty’ and ‘Zero Hunger’, one of the United Nation’s (UN) 17 Sustainable Development Goals is ‘Life below water’, a target to prevent and significantly reduce marine pollution of all kinds, in particular, from land-based activities. Consumer concern in the UK with the environment, pollution, climate change and social responsibility has been steadily rising over the past 30 years. According to the HTA, “this concern has not been hit by the pandemic and is as high as it has ever been!” Consumers will continue to expect more from the brands they buy and the retailers they buy from. Take time to find out more about some of these issues via organisations like Greenpeace and Plastic Bank, or join the UN this month with its virtual commemoration of The International Day for the Eradication of Poverty.
  • Reduce your own plastic usage According to a recent Greenpeace report, the UK is a major contributor to the world’s plastic crisis, generating more plastic waste per person than any other country, except the USA. Our recycling system is already overwhelmed with plastic waste and is now causing harm to citizens and the environment in other countries. As the volume of plastic waste generated each year vastly exceeds the UK’s capacity to recycle it, individuals and businesses need to actively reduce their usage now. Calculate your plastic footprint here and you may be in for a surprise.
  • Work with organisations that are making a difference. There are plenty of opportunities to partner with or support charities and enterprises that are effecting change in the world.  From small things like making regular donations or offsetting your plastic footprint, to something that will have an even bigger impact, like a business partnership.
  • Provide your customers with socially responsible ranges

Shape your offer so that you are giving your socially responsible and eco-savvy customers a choice of products that adhere to their values. And, be sure to shout about it! These consumers translate their concern for social and environmental problems into their purchasing decisions and consumption, so if you want them to spend money with you, show them that you are taking action and making responsible decisions about the brands and ranges you sell.

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