Squire’s Garden Centres has announced a number of significant changes in its bid to reduce its carbon footprint and drive to be increasingly more sustainable.

From May, only ‘home compostable’ carrier bags and boot liners will be available across all Squire’s garden centres, these replace the previous 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 re-usable 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 or Recycle Bin Stations’ have been introduced to all Squire’s 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, comments: “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.”

• Squire’s currently has 14 customer electric car charging points available across seven of its centres.   
• Many plants come from very close to Squire’s garden centres in Surrey, Hampshire and Sussex with some grown on Squire’s sites at West Horsley and Chertsey or from its own nurseries on the West Sussex/ Surrey borders, significantly reducing plant miles.
• Squire’s maintain a strong emphasis on ethical sourcing, doing its best to ensure products are being obtained responsibly.  The business is currently working on initiatives around peat, timber and chemical content and working with others in the industry, as members of SEDEX, to combat modern slavery in supply chains.