Flower power?

Hanna Backman describes how consumer demand for ethical flowers is forcing the industry to become more accountable.

In the past, you could walk into an Interflora shop in London and order flowers to be delivered by another network member shop in Edinburgh or Honolulu on the same day. Similar services are offered by Teleflorist and Flowers Direct (owner of Flowergram).
These days it is possible to order flowers online – from these groups – as well as from a range of other companies. This means that a lot of smaller companies with specialist offerings – like sustainable or organic bouquets – can sell you ethical flowers which are delivered by parcel courier the next day.
This short report looks at the three large florists’ networks, as well as a selection of smaller ethical companies. Arena Flowers is listed as the first UK company with FFP accreditation (see below).
Despite being the largest relay network in the UK, Teleflorist doesn’t offer any Fairtrade certified flowers on its website. A phone call to Flowersdirect and Flowergram revealed that neither of the companies offer locally grown, Fairtrade or organically certified flowers through their sales centres.(10) Interflora, which offers Fairtrade roses, is probably moving the fastest on ethical issues of these three large networks.
Seven out of ten bouquets sold in the UK are sold in supermarkets.(1) While we haven’t included the supermarkets on this table, we do look at their ethiscores and fairtrade flower offerings below.

Environmental issues

Wiggly Wigglers only sells seasonally grown flowers and includes wild flowers in its bouquets. Its business idea is based on the same idea as vegetable box schemes, which means the customer can’t choose what goes in the bouquet. Heather Gorringe, the founder of the family-owned business, says: “To me nature is not colour coordinated and I think it’s more important to worry about the other problems we are causing as consumers, such as having flowers flown in to the UK.” The company doesn’t buy flowers from abroad.(7)

According to Lyndon Mason, a horticultural consultant, “low heat input” UK flowers include summer lilies, summer chrysanthemums and summer flowers such as asters, sunflowers, larkspur, sweet peas, and delphiniums.(8)

Workers’ rights

In 1998, concerns about workers rights and environmental issues in the cut flower industry led various trade unions and NGOs worldwide to start an international flower campaign. The campaign produced an international code of conduct for the cut flower industry which covers the core International Labour Organisation standards, universal human rights and basic environmental standards. A number of certification programmes, such as the European initiative Fair Flowers Fair Plants (FFP) now use this code of conduct to help their growers address supply chain issues. As a result there are some traceable and labelled products on the market.(2)

Labelling Schemes

FFP

The Fair Flowers Fair Plants label means the grower has committed to monitoring environmental impacts such as the use of chemicals, and to minimum standards for worker rights. There is some auditing. There are 75 UK flower shops listed as retailing FFP flowers on the fairflowersfairplants.com website.

MPS

One of the earliest environmental and labour standards certification programmes for flowers is the MPS scheme. It looks for minimising environmental impacts and claims to include auditing. However, the scheme has been criticised by the Ugandan Worker Education Association as many MPS farms there are apparently not being audited. MPS is the only scheme being implemented by most Ugandan farmers.(3) www.my-mps.com

Fairtrade

The most familiar label for Ethical Consumer readers, and one which offers a much more detailed programme of standards, certification, price premiums and social outcomes. www.fairtrade.org.uk

Organic

The Organic Flower Company is one of the few organically certified florists in the UK. A number of organically certified producers in the UK grow flowers alongside other enterprises, and the florist is currently welcoming more applications. There are apparently no organic flower producers outside the UK certified by the Soil Association.(4) www.soilassociation.org

Fairtrade certified flowers

Although there is concern about the environmental impacts of importing cut flowers by air, it is clear that if the CO2 emissions are treated as belonging to an African country, the exporting country will still be way behind on its fair share of per-capita CO2 emissions.
Since 2003 the UK-based organisation Women Working Worldwide (WWW) has been working to promote women workers’ rights in African horticulture. “We would encourage consumers to continue to buy fairtrade flowers from Africa as it’s a vital employment opportunity. However, workers also want their rights to be respected, and consumers need to support them in this by demanding that retailers improve the situation across their supply chains”, says Kate Byron of WWW.(6)
Fairtrade flower cultivation has also been criticised for local impacts.(16) The cultivation of flowers requires a great deal of water, which in Kenya comes at the expense of small-scale farmers growing other crops. As the head of the Kenyan water authority put it: “A flower is 90% water. We are one of the driest countries in the world and we are exporting water to one of the wettest”.(4) With the bulk of fairtrade flowers being sold by supermarkets, the table below shows those which are offering the greatest variety.

Supermarkets and fair trade flowers

Do one thing

Buy locally grown flowers.

References

1 Mintel Report on Houseplants and Cut Flowers UK 09/06
2 International Code of Conduct for the Production of Cut Flowers, www.bothends.org/strategic/ICC-eng.pdf viewed in 12/07
3 Phone conversation with Flavia Modi from the Ugandan Worker Education Association in 12/07
4 Growing Pains, War on Want, Morser, A and McRae, S, 03/07
5 Is it OK ...to buy cut flowers?, Hickman, L, The Guardian, 02/06
6 Email from The Soil Association’s press office received in 12/07
7 Phone interview with Heather Gorringe in 12/07
8 Email from Lyndon Mason received in 12/07
9 www.teleflorist.co.uk viewed in 12/07
10 Phone conversation in 12/07
11 Mintel Report on Houseplants and Cut Flowers UK 09/06
12 Email from WWW received in 12/07
13 Fairtrade Foundation 06/06
14 www.flowersdirect.co.uk and www.flowergram.co.uk viewed in 12/07
16 The Guardian March 5th 2005 ‘Why I won’t be giving my mother fairtrade flowers’.