8 minute read
INTERVIEW
AN INTERVIEW WITH LIZ WILLIAMS, HTA
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Sustainability continues to be a top priority, and the Horticultural Trade Association is working hard to help retailers appeal to conscious consumers
At the end of February this year, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (otherwise known as the IPCC), released its latest assessment report on the state of the global environment.
The contents of the report were hardly what you’d call optimistic, revealing a situation in which the world is now facing “unavoidable multiple climate hazards,” with global warming anticipated at around 1.5 centigrade over the next 20 years. A subsequent press release announcing the ndin s su ed the situation up in
this way: “Human-induced climate change is causing dangerous and widespread disruption in nature and affecting the lives of billions of people around the world.”
Taking the report at its word – and why wouldn’t we? – it’s clear that something needs to be done and done quickly, particularly in the realm of human beings’ habitual behaviour. One key area in relation to this has to be our buying habits and the ways in which we consume.
With that in mind, in this issue’s Big Interview, we’re going to focus on the efforts being made by an increasing number of businesses within the horticulture industry to lessen the environmental impact of their activities. Rather than a garden centre or grower, however, this time around we’ll be talking to the Horticultural Trade Association’s sustainability executive Liz Williams.
For those who don’t know, the HTA currently runs a variety of initiatives in this area, with the intention both of raising environmental awareness amongst its members while at the same time facilitating them to change their business in a systematic, strategic way. The latest addition to its ‘sustainability roadmap’ is its Reference Sites scheme, which got off the ground in March.
The fight against carbon
Speaking in a press release at the time, a spokesperson for the HTA described the Sustainability Reference Sites as a way for members to share best practice, with the eventual aim of building what the statement referred to as a “supportive community.” Current ‘reference’ businesses include Hillier Nurseries, The Barton Grange Group, The Gardens Group, and New Wood Trees.
The statement continued: “Sustainability Reference Sites are HTA member businesses who are already doing considerable work in terms of implementing positive change and embedding sustainability into their business plans. The reference sites are ready to share their knowledge among HTA members and to champion the industry to those outside of it.”
Before going into greater detail about the scheme, Liz offers some general background about the organisation’s work in this area. “The sustainability road map came about in 2019, driven by our chairman, James Barnes,” she says. “At the time, we wanted to try and anticipate where the industry might be going over the course of the ne t e years identifyin the ost important things that we’d probably need to look at.
“There was a lot of data coming out indicating what consumers were wanting at that point, and what their priorities were. Frankly, the market had started to shift towards a concern for sustainability. At the same time, there was also a certain amount of noise coming from government, indicating that it had similar priorities.”
She continues: “It was at that point that we started putting together a devoted team, which is when I came on board. We started to look at developing the roadmap, deciding what do we want to focus on and achieve, and how do we do it. We wanted to set targets and be able to measure progress.” According to Liz, there are currently e areas where the HTA are
concentrating its efforts in terms of sustainability. These include reduction of members’ carbon footprint and helping to reduce stress on the UK water supply, while at the same time increasing “innovation and circularity” when it comes to plastics/packaging. The organisation is also looking at ways to help “optimise the sustainability of growing media,” while also exploring innovation in pest and disease management and the minimisation of chemical use. Asked why the focus has been put on these areas in particular, she says: “Following the initial announcement of the roadmap in 2019, we tried to get as much feedback from members as possible about what their areas of concern were. We wanted to make sure that the issues we focused on were realistic and, of course, applicable to horticulture.”
She explains: “I wouldn’t say that there’s a biggest single issue or area, other than the overall reduction of carbon. All these other areas impact directly on that, for instance in relation to something like plastics and waste. How much carbon comes out of land ll
“We also wanted to help our members reduce the amount of mains water that they use. That also has a carbon footprint because the water needs to be treated. One of the biggest things that we want to promote is rainwater harvesting to reduce environmental impact.”
Going back to the subject of plastics, it apparently takes more than 400 years for it to degrade as a material (at least according to an article published by National Geographic in 2018). If current trends continue meanwhile, it is anticipated that by 2050 there will be 12 billion metric tonnes of plastic occupying land lls across the world. s trou lin as these ures undoubtedly are, one thing they don’t necessarily take into account is the sheer volume of plastic which continues to be casually discarded as litter. This behaviour also has profound implications
for the environment, particularly given that much of this waste – again, according to National Geographic – inevitably ends up in the sea.
While not an HTA Sustainability Reference Site, one garden centre doing sterlin wor in relation to the ht a ainst plastics and plastic waste is Trevisker in Cornwall. As readers may remember from a few issues ago, the business has put major effort into providing education for local school children around the topic of beach waste and its impact on the wider environment.
Perhaps more important in terms of the wider business discussion is that they’ve started to seriously limit the amount of plastic packaging which is available in store. One example of this is their wholesale replacement of black plastic plant pots with compostable bags.
Getting involved
As mentioned, the HTA is involved in a variety of initiatives aimed at helping horticulture businesses reduce their carbon footprint and contribute to the protection of the planet.
Perhaps the most well-known of these until now is its publication of a variety of ‘how to’ guides looking at ways to reduce carbon footprint, such as via the aforementioned rainwater harvesting. The organisation has also recently published a guide to writing a sustainability plan, written in collaboration with sustainability certi cation or anisation Planet Mark. It’s with the Sustainability Reference Sites scheme however that the organisation is now moving best practice off the page and into the real world. Discussing how the initiative works – and what needs to occur for a business to become a reference site – Liz says: “We’ve already been running sustainability workshops and webinars – we want businesses to be actively involved.
“In terms of actually becoming a reference site, in the rst instance you need to have already put together
a sustainability plan and be making pro ress on it. We ha en t een speci c in terms of what businesses need to be doing, but there should be a link to the focus areas which I mentioned before.
“The other key requirement is that you’re willing and able to get involved and actually help others. They need to be willing to get involved in case studies, present webinars, hold site visits and so on. All of the four reference sites so far have agreed to do that.”
She continues: “At the same time, these businesses don’t want to be seen as e perts in the eld or cha pions for the environment. Rather, they just want to show the ways in which they’ve embedded sustainability into everything they do, making it a core part of their business case.”
One of these reference businesses is New Wood Trees. Discussing its involvement in the initiative (via the press release mentioned above), founder Philip Nieuwoudt said: “Sustainability is a huge topic. There is an overwhelming amount of information available and knowing what to focus on is not easy.
“Most businesses do not have the luxury of having a staff member dedicated to sustaina ility and ndin the ti e to understand and implement changes is challenging. This is why we feel that it’s important to take part in the scheme. Businesses need to share their knowledge and help each other make the changes which are so desperately needed.”
There was a time when businesses’ in ol e ent in the reen a enda ay have been considered little more than a nice to ha e rather than a ey component in the way that operations take place. Those days are clearly long gone, with the gardening and growing public now demanding a visible commitment and contribution to the sustainability piece across the board.
As well as a cast iron business case, there is also an urgent moral imperative when it comes to implementing change. And if the horticulture sector doesn’t play its part, that would be a major failing. ◗
