Sustainability And Our Suppliers

Many of the suppliers we work with are doing what they can to ensure their products are as green and eco-friendly as possible. We’re delighted to stock many of these products and wanted to highlight a few of the suppliers and their mission:

AFK:
AFK supply us with arbours and various planters, and their green policy is constantly improving as they liaise with their own suppliers to increase sustainability. This is what they’re already doing:

• Responsible Sourcing: All products are made from FSC® (Forest Stewardship Council) certified timber from responsibly managed forests that provide environmental, social and economic benefits.
• Cardboard: Packaging is made from recycled FSC® certified material and can be recycled. (Certified number SGSCH COC – 020019)
• Product Labels: Labels are made from Polyart® and can be recycled.
• Catalogue and Price Lists: Made from FSC® certified material and can be recycled. (Certified number TTCOC-003661)
• Planter and Trough Liners: Made from recycled polythene.
• Arbour Polythene: Arbour polythene packaging can be recycled.
• Water Based Coatings: Reduces solvent emissions by 95%. We ensure responsible disposal of waste coatings.
• Timber Waste: Turned into wood pellets for use as biofuel.
• Wood Shavings and Sawdust: Collected and used for animal bedding.
• Metal, Plastic and Cardboard: Taken to local recycling centres within a 25-mile radius.

    

Garland Products / Worth Gardening:
Proud to be a sustainable manufacturer, Garland Products/Worth Gardening provide Brookside Garden Centre with a variety of products, including seed trays and labels, and this is how they’re contributing to the fight for the planet:

• Every possible product that’s been manufactured for over 55 years has only used 100% recycled and 100% recyclable plastic, re-using and re-purposing it to help prevent it reaching landfill or our oceans.
• In 2021, over 2000 tonnes of industrial and post-consumer recycled plastic was moulded it into useful and useable products for the home and garden.
• All of the plastic waste generated in Garland’s UK factory is recycled and reused, ensuring zero plastic waste is sent to landfill.
• In 2021, less plastic packaging waste by weight was generated than a single outlet of a well-known fast-food restaurant.
• Easily-separated packaging is used to ensure everything possible can be easily recycled using kerbside recycling systems.
• As many recycled materials as possible are used in packaging, including plastics, cardboard and paper.
• Only vegetable-based inks are used on printed boxes and point of sale materials to ensure paper and cardboard can be recycled or composted with zero negative effect on the environment.
• Garland remains focused on developing products that can be produced and packaged in recycled materials and aim to further driving down the waste they generate to ensure they remain part of the solution, not part of the problem.

    

Keter (Stewart):
Many of our planters and trays come from Keter, via Stewart, and from the technologies they develop to the design process itself, every product made is functional and designed to last a lifetime, their mission, to minimize the use of virgin resources and eliminate waste at each stage of the value chain. Here’s what they have to say:

• We’ve designed all our products to be 100% recyclable and are on an ambitious trajectory to increase the use of recycled content in our products from 40% in 2020 to 55% in 2025, because the earth is our home and our workplace; we like it and the people who live here.
• Together we can build a better company: every single day, our employees worldwide rise to the occasion. They believe the future is bright and that together we can build a better company and, most importantly, a better world for future generations.
• Better Products: We deliver innovative and durable lifestyle solutions that transform your outdoor space.
Our products are designed to help people live more conveniently and comfortably at affordable prices. All of our products are 100% recyclable and designed to last a lifetime, we don't believe in single-use products.
Advancing a circular economy through the innovative use of recycled content in our products, some of which are made of up to 100% recycled materials, is of the utmost importance to us. Throughout 2021, we used over 160,000 tons of recycled material - that's 5 times the Statue of Liberty's weight!
• Better Planet: Sustainability has been a part of our company culture since its inception. With strategic targets to reduce 25% of greenhouse gas emissions by 2025, we continuously strive to achieve greater sustainability goals.
We reduce our carbon footprint through operational efficiencies and environmentally positive actions throughout our supply chain. Proactively contributing towards sustainable living through a range of climate resilience measures, prudent water management, and aggressive waste elimination.
• Better Business: Our success as a company depends on the innate understanding that diversity, equity, and inclusion lead to greater creativity, greater innovation, and ultimately greater sustainability achievements.
With 5 production facilities across North America, we are proud to be involved and invest in each of our local communities through philanthropic initiatives. Such initiatives include our Keter Green Spaces program, in partnership with The Education Fund, aiming to make our communities greener through connection and education. We seek to educate and inspire a new generation of environmentally aware people that can spark change in the world.
• Keter invents products with our customers in mind and has consistently proven to be an industry leader in sustainable design and production.
• We share a responsibility to look after our planet and we want to create products that are beautiful and functional while minimizing our environmental impact. We’ve made it our mission that by 2025 we will reduce our greenhouse gas emissions from production by 25%, create zero waste to landfills from production, and increase our recycled content in total production to 55%. These are impactful goals for us to achieve and we’re allocating resources to pursue the sustainability needs of today while designing for tomorrow, shaping what's next for a better day.

Treadstone / The Good Life:
As a responsible manufacturer across multiple product categories, Treadstone hold sustainability as a key issue to consider for the development of their brand portfolio, and with any new products now launched they’re aiming to use the most natural or sustainable materials in the manufacturing process, avoiding single-use plastics in the packaging. Providing us with storage solutions and gardening gloves, many of their products are already made with recycled materials, and that’s increasing this year, along with the following:

• Cementing themselves as the authority on sustainable gardening solutions with the success of their recycled pots launched in 2021, a range of storage products designed to last, developed in collaboration with the Smartstore brand, which prides itself on commitment to quality.
• Boxes and baskets providing essential storage within the home and built to survive everyday life, not cracking or splitting like a lot of products made from recycled and recyclable plastic. So confident in the quality and longevity of these products, Treadstone offer a 10-year guarantee against defects.
• Storage solutions and pots offering the same versatility, durability and affordability that plastics provide without the impact on the environment by using a high percentage of post-consumer recycled waste, whereby discarded plastic from manufacturing is recycled and reprocessed, thus closing the circular economy loop.
• Committing to using no plastic in their packaging.
• The innovative ClipGlove becoming more sustainable by using materials in production that would normally go to waste, meaning the range will now use 30% recycled materials.
• A new range of gloves for men and women – Bottle Gloves – made using 95% recycled plastic bottles, with just a little added elastic for comfort and dipped in natural latex to provide grip and protection from dirt and water. These will be available at Brookside Garden Centre from the end of January.
• A member of the Forest Stewardship Council, Treadstone will continue to source timber from well-managed forests.

      

We’re proud to provide such a selection of products manufactured responsibly and will continue to work closely with our suppliers to enable us to stock as many as we can.