Sustainable policy in Waterside Nursery

Here at Waterside Nursery we operate using sustainable principles:

Nursery Environment:

• We grow our own plants from our own seed at the Nursery in Leicestershire.
• They have a low air mile and carbon footprint.
• Wash and reuse the pots and plug trays used in the early stages of the growing process.
• Use locally sourced clay-based soil for our aquatic plants.
• We collect rainwater to use in our oxygenating plant and waterlily tanks.
• We do not artificially heat our young plants in the tunnels with electricity. We are dependent on the sun to warm the tunnels.
• Throw our compostable plant waste so it decomposes onsite.
• Wildlife is encouraged to visit the Nursery wherever possible.
• This year we have had dragonfly nymphs and Water Boatmen in the waterlily tanks, ladybirds hatching from larvae on Ranunculus flammula. Butterflies, bees and moths pollinating our flowers for seed. Newts are currently hiding under the trays of moist plants along with frogs and toads.

Staffing:

• We have developed from a 2 person family business to now a team of 11 with 3 of the family working in the business.
• We develop and train our own additional people so we can employ from a wide range of backgrounds.
• They all mix and blend into a rounded team offering us a large range of skills.
• We have a wide range of ages - from 70 to 17. We like to think we are an oversized, extended family!
• Our team vary working hours from full-time, 4 days a week,  3 days a week, part days and college holidays. One member of the team works on admin from home. Everyone else works in the Nursery in despatch or with the plants in their holding tanks.

Sustainable Packing:

• People in our village save their newspapers and bubblewrap for us for wrapping
• We shred paper and cardboard as box filler.
• Our black bag box-lining is made from recycled material and is recyclable.
• The plastic bags (LDPE) we use to wrap the plants in are classed as 'soft plastic' which is recycling code 4. Recyclable at recycling points in supermarkets - Aldi,  Co-op, Iceland, Lidl, M&S, Morrisons, Sainsbury's, Tesco and Waitrose in store.
• We do need a plastic bag so that our pond plants arrive with you in good, damp condition. We have tested biodegradable options and found they do not hold water. The 'soft plastic' option is the best solution we have found.
• Without plastic bags we cannot keep the cardboard box dry. A wet cardboard box will not travel successfully in the courier system.
• Our cardboard boxes are new and specially sized to tightly hold our plant basket sizes so minimizing wasted space.
• We use the smallest box possible to transport your order to you (bearing in mind that the weight of each box cannot be more than a one-person lift). They are strong and would be reusable to resend parcels or to put on a compost heap.
• The mail-pack bags from APC contain recycled materials and are again recyclable as LDPE.

Overall, we try to do our best for the planet, our environment, our customers and our team as we go about our daily and annual tasks on the Nursery.