ethical junction

Arena Flowers

Ethical Policy

We are leading online florists in the UK offering flower delivery services to the Greater London and the rest of the UK. While we have a loyal customer base, a high PR and a strong online presence, we are also continually looking to increase the value of our products to our customers. We are commited to protecting the environment and we have embraced many environment friendly business practices, some of which are listed below: Distribution: �Our flowers are come direct from the flower auction in Holland through the channel tunnel to our single London distribution point and then directly out to customer. Ie there are no unnecessary steps in distribution which reduces emissions, as well as reducing wastage. �Within M25: we use our own vans. We�re going to try using electric vans for central London , to cut down emissions. To read more about the trial please visit us at www.arenaflowers.com/blog. We also already have a moped for central London. Both of these will cut down our emissions. �Outside M25: we use Parcelforce (they are right next door to us), to leverage their distribution efficiencies, rather than to attempt to produce a more efficient system ourselves. They are going to be offering a carbon neutral distribution option soon, which we will adopt as soon as it is available. �Boxes: the flowers for outside M25 go in boxes. These are made from 90% recycled cardboard. Product: �Flowers: We are the first UK florist to sell Fair Flowers Fair Plants (FFP) accredited flowers. 90% of our bouquets contain a fair proportion of FFP flowers, but you cannot give bouquets the FFP tag unless all of the constituents are FFP accredited. �Drinks and chocolates: as part of our range, we have organic wines and chocolates. �Greetings cards: Our greetings (bar a couple that we�re getting rid of) are printed on sustainable board and printed using vegetable-based inks. We receive them in biodegradable wrappers. Waste: �We�re a new company, so are looking to set up recycling etc. Our product and purchasing officer, Ronald, will be attending a course to get certificated in environmentally sound waste management to roll this out more comprehensively. Server: �Another is that we are moving to a new hosting service provider (rackspace), and our new servers will be carbon neutral. Other: �We don�t currently run an official offsetting scheme, though I hope you can see that we�re trying in many areas. �We are also inviting quotes on running an environmental audit of our business. I have one contact (given to me by the Essex Wildlife Trust, which we will be joining the week after next when their corporate officer is back from holiday. �We are also going to be exhibitors on June 5th at ABN Amro�s environmental awareness day for their 3k UK employees. This will mean that we can share what we�re doing but, equally importantly, learn from the other exhibitors.