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CHAPTER 02
less water, less impact One thing plants love is water, but it’s a valuable resource that we believe shouldn’t be used frivolously.
reducing our emissions
SUSTAINABILITY REPORT 2020
It’s no secret that our flowers have to travel. We wish we could grow them all here in Milton Keynes, but it’s not best known for its agriculture. We do, however, give a lot of thought to making sure they travel as efficiently as possible. The selection of our growing partners is guided by the farm location and our ability to consolidate shipments early in the supply chain, as fewer trucks and flights mean less fuel consumed and lower fuel emissions. In 2020, our overall annual mileage has been reduced by 55%.
To conserve it, our farms use hydroponic systems, supplemented by collected rainwater, wetland water filtration schemes and greywater sourcing over traditional soil planting. By growing our flowers in trays of water instead of soil, we can reduce overall water consumption by 30-40% while keeping the stems just as beautiful and healthy. It’s not only our farms that are water-conscious we moved our entire UK headquarters to an EPC A-rated facility to harvest and better utilise our grey water, something which has reduced our water consumption by 12% this year. This focus on water preservation goes beyond top-level decisions around our premises; all of our staff are encouraged to consider water as an important resource as we work together to save as much of it as we can. It’s all part of our pledge to become the most water-efficient flower business in the world.
We’ve salvaged 23.3 tonnes of green waste, which is equivalent to 8 elephants.
ARENA FLOWERS
