What is ‘Eco’?

Recently on a floristry forum the dictionary definition of ‘eco’ was considered unrealistic and trying was ‘eco’ enough, whilst elsewhere it was argued that in light of the climate crisis there was no room for grey areas. So which is it? What on earth is ‘eco’?

For me ‘Eco’ is a marketing term; a simple, short catchy soundbite for the overwhelmed 21st century consumer that does nothing to unpick the complexity of sustainability and the difficulty of calculating the full life cost of the products we buy. One product can be ‘eco’ because it can be recycled, another is ‘eco’ because it’s plastic free, something made from natural ingredients is eco because… it’s baffling really isn’t it?

For us, being environmentally friendly is a process of weighing up all the options versus doing nothing, and deciding which is best to do if any. Working in horticulture and floristry theres a lot to consider; weed management, irrigation, growing medium and containers, plant provenance, crop covers, transport as well as packaging and labels, flower supplantation, floristry supplies. The lists go on. For each we are looking at the ‘whole life cost’ of each thing – not just in £££ but their environmental impact too. To do this properly requires the complete provenance of each product (how it was made, it’s material/ingredient list and where they came from, and its journey to you) in order to decide. Is that realistic? Is that possible? With very few exceptions, the amount of information available with which to make these decisions is woeful and its all very grey.

So this week I am writing a series of posts that come out of three years of battling with ‘what is eco? I’m not proposing answers, instead we will collectively tussle with the difficulties that ‘eco’ poses. I hope that it will help our customers understand why we make the decisions we make and consider some of the broader issues around consumption and ‘eco’ assumptions.

Last year we hosted an Eco-Innovation Cumbria Intern, Dr Laura Giles, who looked specifically at two areas of our horticultural practice to help us make an informed decision. I start with her work on plant pots!

Are these eco?

Our Coir Plant Pots are a great example of the ‘eco’ conundrum. These pots have been extremely popular since we first started selling our herbs, early spring plants and bulbs in them in 2019. Like lots of people I don’t like plastic plant pots and I was thrilled to have an alternative…. And yet, whilst they look natural and rustic and very ‘eco’, it felt important to question the product: are these coir plant pots, made in Sri Lanka from waste produce of the food industry, a better option with a lower carbon footprint to a recyclable plastic pot made here in the UK?

Through the Eco-Innovation Project at the University of Cumbria Dr Laura Giles was tasked with looking at the carbon footprint of these coir pots, versus recyclable plastic pots and the commonly used black plastic plant pot. Using (the very limited) available data Laura was able to calculate that a coir pot would generate 0.0500kg Co2 whereas a 100% recyclable plastic pot would generate 0.0538kg Co2 and a black non-recyclable pot would generate 0.0659kg CO2e. A marginal net benefit on the face of things then, until we consider the ‘whole life cost’ of these products. One of the benefits of the coir pots is that they are compostable and can be thrown onto your compost pile or into your green bin once used but that makes them ‘single use’ whereas the plastic pots can be used over and over and over again. If we give them a 5 year life-span the recyclable plastic plant pot’s GHG emission reduces to 0.003kg Co2e. We know that a lot of plastic plant pots get thrown in the garden shed or go straight in the bin once used but if they are reused, they have a significantly better carbon footprint than a coir pot. These amounts seem tiny don’t they? According to the BBC 500 million plant pots are used in the UK each year, which (assuming these are single use with a Co2 footprint of 0.005kg Co2) equates to 26,900,000kg Co2! (Yes that’s nearly 27 million!) Not so tiny now!

We can’t ensure that the pots we sell will be reused and that is something that is on our conscience. We still have some coir pots so will continue to use them, and this year we will implement a recycling scheme for the recyclable plant pots and vases that we do sell, offering money off the next sale when they are returned to us.

So is the coir pot eco? Yes, no or it depends?! What I hope this shows is that considering the whole life cost of products is complicated and our assumptions are challenged. We couldn’t have done this without the hard work of a paid academic. Thank you Laura!