A good
mix of growers, garden retailers and suppliers attended the sell-out HTA
Sustainability Matters Conference, held at Horticulture House in Oxfordshire
this week – demonstrating the importance of this topic to the industry.
Opening the event
HTA President Adam Taylor from Taylors Bulbs began with a definition of
sustainability making the point that it is not just about plastics.
With TV programmes
gaining more public momentum, there has been no time more important than now to
make it top of your priority list. It isn’t about pointing the finger and
giving blame, it is about working together and finding strategies that work
across the industry.
George Bullivant,
Director of Gardenforum who was chairing the day, then followed discussing how
important the matter of sustainability is for the industry. It is a subject
that has an emotional connection with so many people, and if as an industry we
get it wrong, it will have a detrimental effect across the whole industry.
Some of the key
takeaways from speakers throughout the day included:
- 95% of consumers say
that the environment is important to them
- Keen gardeners are
more likely to be eco-friendly, recycle and willing to make a lifestyle
compromise to benefit the environment than other consumers.
- Sustainability can
help to create a competitive advantage for a brand and help you to build trust
with consumers.
- Green hush – lots of
actions taking place behind the scenes but it is important that businesses take
consumers on the journey with them to avoid being accused of doing nothing.
- Keep up to date with
current sustainability issues. A good starting point is to look at the UN’s Sustainable
Development Goals and the BRC’s
Better Retail, Better World initiative.
In summing up the
day HTA President-Elect Boyd Douglas-Davies from Hillview Group commented:
"The event demonstrated how small actions can make big differences and we
need to take our customers with us on the journey.
"As an industry
we are making great progress with regard to recyclable pots and let’s not
forget that we are producing a great product in the shape of plants or ‘clean
air machines’. We need to shout about this helping to ensure that the buyers of
the future continue to come to us for great products with a positive impact on
the environment."
A full event report
can be downloaded here.
