From Farm Visit to Full Commitment: How Brite Blooms Made the Switch

Sisters, Nicola and Jenna run Brite Blooms from their gardens near Kumeu. Twenty seven years of growing commercial cut flowers and dahlia tubers, brightening people's day across the country.

Earlier this year they saw our post on the NZ Florist Facebook page about recycled plastic sleeves. They reached out and we went to visit them at their farm. We had a conversation about what it means to address the plastic problem in the flower industry and their enthusiasm about our recycled sleeves showed that growers really do care about the industry's plastic problem. Until now, there hadn't been an easy solution for New Zealand growers.

We left a sample of sleeves with them to try and shortly after they decided to commit to switching all their sleeves to 100% recycled plastic sleeves. A meaningful shift towards more sustainable packaging in their operation and a decision that shows their customers that they're committed to taking responsibility for their waste.

By May, they had their custom branded pallet. "Best investment we've made in a long time," they say.

Since Brite Blooms made the switch, other growers have contacted us about switching to our 100% recycled sleeves and there has been great feedback. By switching to recycled sleeves, no virgin plastic is used to protect their flowers, and their decision is already creating a ripple effect across the industry, one we are excited to see spread.

When you've been growing flowers for over two decades, the industry's waste is not invisible like it is to consumers because you're handling it every day. You're watching it leave your farm wrapped around your flowers where you have no control over where it goes. Even if you don't like it, the sleeve protects your flowers, which have taken months to grow, from damage once it leaves the farm, so it's not as simple as just eliminating it altogether. For Nicola and Jenna, seeing a solution and being able to act on it was straightforward. They tested it and decided to commit.

“We had spent years looking into different solutions for swapping sleeves from the generic plastic. It just didn't sit right with the plastic we were using. We asked around within New Zealand and had no luck, looked offshore at options but they were so expensive. Finding Yasmin at The Flower Loop has been such a positive move for our business and exactly what we were looking for. We are so happy with the change we made, the quality of the sleeves is so much better than what we were using. But the best part was not only how great the flowers look in these sleeves, it was the price point, these sleeves worked out better than we had hoped. We hope to see more awareness on the plastic issue within the flower industry, with growers realising making the change doesn't have to be hard or expensive. Yasmin was incredible to work with and made the ordering and transition seamless."

Together with The Flower Loop's plastic collection, industry norms are starting to change. This is just the beginning of the industry taking responsibility for its waste and we couldn't do it without growers like Nicola and Jenna.

The flower industry has always been about beauty. Now, with Nicola and Jenna leading the way, it can be about responsibility too.