Environmental Info

Are Silk Flowers better than Fresh Cut Flowers when it comes to the environment?

This is a question we’re being increasingly being asked and the simple answer is yes!  Research and opinion pieces have shown that artificial flowers are better than fresh flowers for the following reasons.

1. Transportation – Many fresh flowers are imported from around the world.  To keep fresh they need to be air-freighted as this is the fastest way.  Artificial flowers can be transported by Sea, Rail and Road and can be transported in much greater quantities with fewer journeys and with less frequency.  In fact it takes 6 months from order to delivery to receive artificial flowers.
2. Freshness – to keep real flowers fresh, they need to be kept refrigerated during transportation and specially treated, conditions for those which are “out of season”.  Artificial flowers are very durable and can last many years, their biggest enemy being full sun over a long period of time, which can fade or discolour the leaves.
3. Landfill – unless fresh flowers are composted, they will probably end up in landfill where they emit methane, a greenhouse gas.  Artificial flowers may eventually end up in landfill too but they will have been around for far far longer and reused many times before being discarded.  We donate stems which are faded or damaged ie missing a petal/leaf to schools who use them for environmental projects, painting & creative activities.

So in conclusion – artificial flowers have a smaller carbon footprint, are biostable and because of their durability, take up less space in landfill.