And are Silk Flowers really more sustainable?!
You may have heard about the growing interest in buying locally grown or locally made food. Not only is it a great idea to support your neighbours but it’s also great for the environment as it reduces the food miles, ie the carbon emissions caused by transportation (particularly air travel) of food products across the globe. Buying local and reducing carbon emissions helps the planet to stay beautiful.
And (drum roll please)…. the same concept applies to flowers.
Did you know?
It’s a fact – the majority of fresh cut flowers you can buy today are grown in greenhouses in Central and South America, Africa and Europe.
A 2017 article by New Zealand publication “Stuff” confirmed that over 40% of NZ fresh cut flowers are imported and this number continues to rise. In order for these flowers to reach the consumer, they must be flown by plane across the world. What’s more, during transit, the flowers must be kept refrigerated at all times to ensure freshness and that in itself uses a lot of energy and resources.
During our research we found that on a single valentine’s day in the US, fresh flowers flown in from South America produced 9000 tons of CO2, equivalent to over 4 million litres of consumed gasoline.
Eek poor planet!
I’m sorry to say that the trouble doesn’t stop there, as there are many pesticides used during the growing and transportation process of fresh flowers and these can be toxic to consumers. Even when the cut flower has completed its life cycle and is ready for the bin, it ends up decomposing in a land fill where it actually produces small amounts of methane – another greenhouse gas.
This is a hefty price to pay for a luxury that might only last a week!
Environmental benefits of artificial flower rental:
The good news is that I have good news!
Artificial flowers like ours from SilkSense Auckland Silk Flower Rental are the way forward.
It should be no surprise that faux flowers continue to grow in popularity. With the use of many recyclable materials in our products, no need for pesticides or harmful chemicals, the emissions benefit of being transported by sea instead of by air, AND the fact that they can be reused over and over again and thus last for years rather than days… it is now quite easy to be convinced that Silk really does make Sense and you should always choose to rent artificial flowers from SilkSense Auckland Silk Flower rental.
If you are located in the Auckland region, contact Alana or Werner for a free trial of our month to month Silk Flower rental service.
Together we can help make the world a greener place 🙂