Our main aims are to develop policies around the following areas:
As a Garden Centre, our Water usage is naturally high but we are working hard at providing solutions for us to better utilise the rainwater from our buildings. On average around 10,000lt of water can fall on our roofs each year. As such we have installed water butts around our sites and also siphon as much rainwater as we can from the roof into our main water tank here on site at Sedlescombe.
We also can not only supply water butts and accessories to our customers but in the spirit of recycling we have a large stock of recycled Fruit Barrels in stock ready to transformed into their second life as Water Butts!
Here at Blackbrooks we make sure that any wood based products come from suppliers who use timber that is to an FSC standard. This is the Forest Stewardship Council and they regulate that every tree cut down is replaced. This FSC logo can be seen on our products and suppliers paperwork.
The garden centre industry is rightly concerned along with the public regarding peat usage in its products and Blackbrooks is no different. We have been working hard with suppliers to produce viable alternatives to Peat in Growing Media and are delighted to be making progress. We have our Peat-Free Multi Purpose Compost supplier via Westlands and work with them and other on improving labelling and bringing Peat Reduced products and Organic forms of composts to the market.
This is a large project for the industry and involves a lot of re-education regarding Peat and the impact it usage can have on the environment, but we are committed to continuing this with our suppliers and customers.
Wherever possible we aim to use British suppliers for our products and ingredients and as locally as possible too. We firmly believe in a strong local economy and that by doing this we can achieve several things. Firstly this will bring down the Carbon Footprint of our produce but secondly allow British suppliers and Growers to flourish as well.
This year we are also looking into Composting any of our food waste to be used on our grounds along with our coffee grounds. We are always looking for suppliers that deal in recycled products such as recyclable pots, or this year, Door mats made out of old Car Tyres! We are also looking for ways to recycle things we have such as the fruit barrels mentioned above and this year have chipped a majority of our Christmas Trees to be used as mulch for example.
We also endeavour to provide products that will benefit both your own and the environments health. As we know, gardening is one of the most popular hobbies in the UK with over 27 million people classing gardening as their hobby! Planting Flowers and Trees that cleanse the air, connecting us with nature, the sun gives us benefits with serotonin and vitamins. Gardening also gives us the exercise most of us pay to go to the gym for and we have the potential to meet people either at the garden centre, allotments or groups.
Gardening can be really good for you! That is our aim, and if you can have a cheeky slice of homemade cake whilst at it, why not!
