ENVIRONMENTAL RESPONSIBILITY AT RHS FLOWER SHOWS: Press Release by the Royal Horticultural Society

The RHS flower shows have long provided an excellent platform for exhibitors to highlight how climate change impacts on gardens and gardening, and how they can promote environmentally responsible gardening through talks, demonstrations, gardens and exhibits. The RHS is committed to increasing the environmental content of its flower shows, and to finding more environmentally friendly ways of working. There is still work to be done, but the RHS flower shows can help to educate and inform both visitors and exhibitors about environmentally responsible gardening.

Below are some of the environmental initiatives at RHS flower shows:

Environmentally responsible trade stands

The RHS bans the sale of certain products from its shows at Cardiff, Chelsea, Hampton Court Palace and Tatton Park. The list of banned products includes:
• gas patio heaters
• fossil stones
• petrified wood

Waste from RHS flower shows

In 2008, exhibitor waste will be monitored, measured, photographed and detailed to create a base line for future measurement of the environmental impact the flower shows. The ultimate objective of this action is to encourage the reduction of waste, and increase the level of recycling.

Currently the RHS flower shows at Chelsea and Hampton Court Palace achieve a recycling rate of 65% for waste managed by the RHS, and at Tatton 75% of waste is delivered to the waste plant.

Carrier bags at RHS flower shows

Starting in 2008 the RHS plastic carrier bag be replaced with biodegradable corn starch bags. These will be introduced to the shows at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show, and will be the only bag sold by the RHS from that point on.

All RHS exhibitors with a remaining stock of plastic carrier bags will be encouraged to replace them with corn starch bags, and a complete ban on plastic RHS carrier bags will come into effect from 2009.

Garden plants and materials

The RHS has introduced a new procedure to determine the current environmental standing of garden exhibitors at RHS flower shows. All garden exhibitors at the 2008 shows have been asked to submit detailed analysis of their environmental actions.

This procedure will highlight if exhibitors plan to bring any banned product to the show, and encourage them to dispose of their hard and soft landscaping materials responsibly.

At this stage, it is purely an information gathering process, but it is hoped that the results will provide a bench mark from which improvements to the environmental impact of the shows can be measured.

The questions asked during this process include:
• Where have you sourced the plants/trees to be used in your garden?
• Where will the plants/trees be used after the show?
• Do you have timber included within the infrastructure?
• If timber is included, how will you dispose of it after the show?
• Do you have any stone, bricks or other hard materials included within the garden?
• Where have you sourced the stone, bricks or other hard materials to be used in your garden?
• How will you dispose of stone, bricks and other hard materials after the show?

Gardens living on

The RHS encourages gardens to live on after the flower shows, and the question of how the garden will live on after the show, is asked at the application stage. Elements of the garden may be recycled, be it plants or hard landscaping, or the garden might be relocated in its entirety.

Some examples of the gardens that will be living on after 2008 Hampton Court Palace Flower Show include:

• “Gambling Environments” (Anita Smith) This garden will be rebuilt at St James’ Primary School, which is part of the Eco Schools Scheme. It will be used as a learning aid and discussion piece on the subject of the consequences of careless waste disposal.

• “The Widex Hearing Garden: Celebrating Sound” (Widex) The limestone paving and some of the plants will be reused in subsequent designs. The rest of the garden will be donated to local charities.

• “Breathing Space…Thinking Space” (Samaritans) The garden will be auctioned on www.buyoncegivetwice.co.uk which is a auction site which benefits charities. Ninety per cent of the proceeds of the auction will go towards Samaritan’s charitable activities.

• “Shades of Barragan” (Plumpton College) The garden will be rebuilt within the grounds of Plumpton College.

Sourcing of plants by floral exhibitors

Information gathered by the RHS has shown the following results, with regards to nurseries and plant growers who exhibit at RHS flower shows:
• 94% propagate their own plants
• 75% source their plants from within the EU
• 23% do not use peat in their compost
• 54% maintain productive composting facilities at their nurseries
• 48% adopt some organic principles when growing plants, 15% are near to totally organic
• 49% undertake recycling initiatives

This data provides a valuable benchmark, from which improvements can be measured.

Timber at RHS flower shows

Since 2002 the RHS has required all exhibitors at RHS flower shows who sell or exhibit timber products, to provide FSC certification that confirms the timber has been sourced from sustainable forests. Through seminars for exhibitors and this certification policy the RHS highlights that if global timber resources are not managed in a sustainable way, the long-term availability of timber and biodiversity that relies on it cannot be assured. Each year the RHS employs independent auditors (ProForest) to review timber compliance at the show.

The RHS is not able to police what happens outside its own events and activities, so it is unable to ban exhibitors who sell non-certified timber as part of their wider business. Also, the RHS believes that it is beneficial to work with the industry and to encourage them not to stock non certified timber.

Non-native invasive species

The RHS policy statement regarding non-native invasive species is published within its conservation and environment guidelines. This includes a policy which prohibits exhibitors from selling or showing certain plants at RHS flower shows. This information is available online at:
http://www.rhs.org.uk/Learning/research/conservation_and_environment.asp

The prohibited plants are:

• Himalayan balsam (Impatiens glandulifera)
• Giant hogweed (Heracleum mantegazzianum)
• Japanese knotweed (Fallopia japonica)
• Fairy fern (Azolla filiculoides)
• New Zealand pygmy weed (Crassula helmsii)
• Parrot’s feather (Myriophyllum aquaticum)
• Floating pennywort (Hydroctyle ranunculoides)

CITES and plant health

The RHS fully complies with CITES and DEFRA inspections at all RHS flower shows to ensure that there are neither endangered nor diseased plants at the shows which could compromise the health of native species.

The RHS has clear guidelines for gardeners wishing to import plants from abroad. These can be found at:
http://www.rhs.org.uk/Learning/research/conservation_and_environment.asp

The RHS also has a full ban in place on exhibiting or selling plants dug from the wild.

An environmental platform

The RHS is developing the content of Hampton Court Palace Flower Show to ensure it has a significant number of environmental initiatives to help educate show visitors about climate change and other areas of environmental concern.

Some examples of “environmental exhibits” at the 2008 Hampton Court Palace Flower Show included:

• The Met Office created an exhibit in tandem with experts from RHS Garden Wisley to explain how climate change will affect our lives and our gardens in the future.

• “Growing Tastes” is a new feature at the show to encourage visitors to grow their own. Not only does this concept have health benefits, but it reduces food mile too.

• “Pelotee Place” (Send-a-cow) A futuristic eco-garden providing a glimpse 50 years into the future. Core to the theme is how this new generation of gardeners might look towards Africa for solutions to living in a more hostile climate.

• “Future Garden” (London Wildlife Trust & Royal Parks) A futuristic wildlife garden with a 1950s “space age” feel designed with climate change in mind.

• “A Metal Garden” (Southend-on-Sea Borough Council) An eco-garden with solar panels, reed bed filtration and prairie planting.

• “Intergarage Garden” (Piece of Green) A contemporary London front garden with a futuristic underground parking system.

A strong environmental theme could also be seen at BBC Gardeners’ World Live in 2008 with several initiatives at the show designed to highlight areas of environmental concern.

Some examples of “environmental exhibits” at BBC Gardeners’ World 2008 included:

• The Countryfile feature, an area of the show dedicated to promoting greener living by raising awareness of eco-friendly products and services, thereby supporting a more sustainable way of life.

• A competition, sponsored by Bradstone, to design and build a show garden based around the theme of “the good life”. Part of the brief is to create a garden that has a low carbon footprint, and which is sustainable and environmentally friendly.

• A small garden inspired by 2008 being the ‘Year of Planet Earth’, and celebrating the planet’s uniqueness and durability.

Catering at RHS flower shows

Sodexho Prestige, one of the principle catering companies employed by the RHS to cater at RHS flower shows, has made a commitment to source at least 80% of the food sold on site at the flower shows from the UK where practicably possible, and provide mainly recyclable or biodegradable packaging. Plastic, glass and certain types of other waste will be separated on site, and nearly all wooden furniture used at the shows will be from certified sources.