A leading British commercial nursery has started work on a new reservoir to help it capture, save and recycle more water.

Wyevale Nurseries is creating its new water conservation and storage system at its King’s Acre container site as part of its ongoing sustainability plans and annual environmental targets.

Steve Reed, Production Director, Container Division, says: “As water becomes an increasingly fragile resource, we’re delighted to be installing this new reservoir to secure our long-term future. We currently recycle 34% of our water and are building this reservoir to dramatically improve this percentage.

“As part of our annual ISO 14001 environmental accreditation, we have regular targets for recycling water and we’re at our maximum. Our last two years figures are similar, averaging at around 35,000 m³, which is still about 14 Olympic-sized swimming pools, but we are going to increase that figure with the extra storage.

“In order to recycle more water, we need the new reservoir and gained planning permission to build one just before the pandemic hit, but we’ve only just been able to start work now. It’ll be fully lined and hold 20,000 m³ of water when full.

“It will also help us increase our water recycling ability from run-off from structures when we have rain and reduce our reliance on our onsite boreholes. It’s connected to our Container Tree Production site, which means we’ve already had to lay pipe under two roads in readiness for when the reservoir is working and in action.

“We’re proud holders of our ISO 14001 environmental accreditation and are always looking at ways of improving and innovating with regards our water conservation.”

ISO 14001 is an internationally accredited standard outlining how organisations can put an effective Environmental Management System (ESM) in place.

It’s designed to help businesses remain commercially successful without overlooking environmental responsibilities and impacts.

It can also help firms develop sustainably while reducing the environmental impact of their growth.

Wyevale Nurseries’ product selection is envied across the industry and the talented team regularly introduces new, award-winning plant varieties.

Its main business is to supply garden centres, landscape contractors, local authorities, foresters and landowners with a comprehensive array of trees, shrubs, hedging, herbaceous and specimen plants.

For further details about Wyevale Nurseries, which is based in Hereford, please call 01432 845 200 or visit www.wyevalenurseries.co.uk.