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At Business is Blooming, we embrace sustainable business practices and are committed to continually "greening" our operations. We believe that cut flowers can be part of our sustainable lifestyle.
We choose certified suppliers and growers.
- Veriflora is a sustainability certification program for fresh cut flowers and potted plants.
- Florverde is a certification that ensures all flowers
grown and harvested in Colombia meet specific social and environmental
standards.
We support local growers.
- We order direct from the farm, or shop at the Ithaca Farmer's Market for the freshest flowers.
- We reduce the number of miles flowers travel from farm to vase. In the summer, we average 10 miles. In the winter, many of our flowers travel less than 200 miles, from our growers in Bloomsburg, Pennsylvania and Ontario, Canada. Most flowers sold in the Northeast have traveled 3,000 to 10,000 miles.
We compost all our "yard waste."
- We compost all the cuttings from our design floor and old bouquets from our Fresh Flower Service.
- We re-use natural materials such as pussy willow, curly willow, birch branches, and pine cones. These woody elements last much longer than flowers. We keep them out of the compost until it's their time!
We reduce.
- We reduce clutter. Flowers are a renewable resource, and compostable -
a more sustainable gift than permanent, people-made "stuff."
- We reduce the miles we drive. By consolidating many deliveries on
Mondays & Fridays, we cut greenhouse gases. And 4 of the 5 people
on the Bizbloom team are lucky enough to live in our Fall Creek
neighborhood and walk to work!
- We reduce garbage. Flowers from our local growers don't come in plastic wrappers or cardboard boxes - a simple rubber band holds the bunch as it is transferred from the grower's bucket to ours.
- We reduce the use of floral foam (aka "Oasis"), a petroleum-based product.
We re-use.
- We re-use vases. Our Fresh Flower Service vases are re-used, instead of piling up on office shelves or kitchen cupboards. We offer vase rental for event flowers. We accept donations of used vases and give them to community organizations - filled with fresh flowers, of course!
- We re-use packaging. Large cardboard flower boxes go back to our wholesalers for their next delivery.
We Recycle
- Hooray for the Tompkins County Solid Waste & Recycling Center! They help us to recycle all our cardboard, mixed paper, plastic, metal, and glass waste.
- We use recycled materials such as 100% recycled ReCreations fiber urns, Eco-forms pots made from grain husks, and simple things like copy paper.
Flowers that get people talking . . .
about Going Green! Let's chat.
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