Having products with the right quality, environmental and ethical standards
We want our products to contribute to (and not undermine) sustainable development and by doing that meet the standards required by international and national laws, industry codes and our retail customers’ own company standards and policies.
We will also promote ranges of products with strong environmental credentials such as weed control fabrics, reusable growing bags, capillary feeding products, seed trays made of recycled plastics, peat free planter compost blocks, insect mesh grow tunnels, jute carrier bags and Forest Stewardship Council certified timber products.
Actions and targets
- By the end of 2012, all new major product ranges will have a template which will include information on use of recycled new materials, renewable materials and recyclability and any other relevant environmental information. We are testing a process template to gather this data for a new category due to be launched to the trade in June 2012 and if this is successful, we will use it for all future new ranges.
Packaging:
All Gardman product packaging carries the On-pack recycling labels.
By 2012 we will have a board agreed policy where we demonstrate that packaging:
- Will be minimised, subject to safety, hygiene and consumer acceptance
- Will be recoverable. Some or all of the packaging must be able to either be recycled, have energy recovered from it, or be composted or reused
- Will have a minimal impact on the environment after disposal
- Will have minimum levels of hazardous substances.
Timber based products:
By 2012 we will:
- Know the details of the timber supply chain and be aware of the forest of origin
- Have identified any timber products that originate from ‘controversial’ sources and have an action plan to eliminate the risk of this occurring. (By ‘controversial’, we mean forests where there are social conflicts, conservation value is high, or where trees are felled in an illegal manner).
- Be able to demonstrate a targeted commitment to buying timber from sources that have been independently certified as well-managed forests. The Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) is our preferred certifier. Sources that are members of The Forest Trust (TFT) scheme are also acceptable.
- Collect data and report on the percentage of products that is certified by the Forest Stewardship Council.
Products made from a very high proportion (over 70%) of post-consumer waste are categorised as acceptable.
Peat
- Any steps we can take to reduce the horticultural use of peat will be positive in supporting the conservation efforts to protect ancient peat bogs, therefore we expect to remove peat completely from all our products by the end of 2012.