Weddings, funerals, hospital visits, Mother’s Day, Valentine’s Day, and many other reasons keep the billion-dollar floral industry booming.
Receiving flowers may feel like you’re being gifted a piece of nature, but the environment is not receiving anything in return. In fact, the industry places serious tolls on people and the planet, making traditional floriculture not very sustainable at all.
This guide features a list of eco-friendly bouquet companies to order from, explores the ethics of the flower industry, and provides tips for picking out eco-friendly flowers.
This post does contain some affiliate links which means The Honest Consumer will receive a commission if you decide to purchase, however, at no additional cost to you!
The Ethics & Sustainability of Traditional Bouquet Companies
Here are a few things to be aware of when picking out your next bouquet!
Environmental Impacts of Shipping
A bouquet’s journey typically starts with flowers that are cut, wrapped in plastic, packed into a refrigerated truck, and driven to florists and supermarkets. Depending on where the flowers are being sourced from, shipping or air travel may be involved too, adding another step to an already long journey.
Whether flying or shipping flowers, this step is still not the final one because once they land at a harbor or airport, the flowers need to be placed into yet another refrigerated truck to be driven to their final stop.
Shipping creates fewer emissions than air travel, but due to fast delivery demands, air travel is often preferred because it’s faster. Travel for flowers requires a lot of resources and creates a lot of emissions.
Pesticides
Another environmental threat is pesticides, which can also affect workers and consumers. On farm, using pesticides can create chemical runoff that enters waterways, affecting aquatic life and surrounding communities.
Working with pesticides may impact workers despite the use of PPE (personal protective equipment), because clothing and tools can be contaminated.
It doesn’t stop there for workers. In addition to these unsafe conditions, many of them work long hours, sometimes up to 16 hours a day.
Pesticides continue to be a problem off the farm. Since floral arrangements like bouquets are not edible, they do not have the same regulatory controls as food, meaning they may be laden with toxic chemicals.
A fifth of the chemicals used in the industry in low-income countries are banned or untested in the US. Additionally, imported flowers may be dipped in fungicides to comply with import regulations. In Australia, imported flowers are treated with glyphosate, which is associated with respiratory effects like asthma.
All this is not to say we should stop buying flowers. A beautiful floral arrangement can make you happy! However, where and how we buy flowers is something to be mindful of.
4 Eco-friendly Flower Delivery Companies
Here’s a list of eco-conscious flower brands prioritizing sustainable practices and ethics.
Bouqs Ethically sourced bouquets
Price Range: $49+
Bouqs founders took their floral company to Shark Tank soon after starting, but didn’t land a deal. They blossomed nevertheless and now offer a large range of floral arrangements for every occasion.
Bouqs sources directly from farms, working with those that are certified by third parties like Rainforest Alliance and BloomCheck. Sustainable practices from their partner farms include recycling water, composting plant waste, and using organic pest control practices.
I received a Bouqs bouquet for my birthday and it was beautiful!
They also offer longer lasting options such as succulents, plants, and dried flower arrangements.
Farmgirl Flowers Plastic Free Bouquets
Price Range: $59+
Offering unique floral arrangements for every occasion, Farmgirl Flowers started in 2010. Various plants and arrangements are available in reusable pots and baskets.
For bouquet wraps, this brand uses burlap which can be composted, instead of single-use plastic. Farm Girl Flowers works with local coffee roasters to rescue and upcycle their burlap sacks for floral wraps.
This is an extra unique element if you’re looking to gift flowers!
Farmgirl Flowers also gives back by donating to non-profits focused on gender and racial equity spaces, in healthcare, relief efforts and more.
Shop local bouquet with Slow Flowers
Slow Flowers is an online floral directory dedicated to helping you find American-grown flowers. This is great because it helps reduce the carbon footprint when compared to imported flowers. The directory connects consumers to local florists, shops, studios, farms, and designers who gaurantee their products are domestic and locally grown.
In addition to inspiring support for locally-grown flowers and encouraging honest and transparent country of origin labeling in the industry, Slow Flowers champions seasonal and sustainable flowers.
Seasonal Flowers from Urban Stems
Price Range: $55+
Urban Stems focuses on freshness, sustainability, and excellent service. They offer a rotating selection of seasonal bouquets, working directly with Rainforest Alliance certified farms.
Along with their various floral arrangements, consumers can choose from green plants and succulents available in stunning and unique reusable pots.
How to Choose More Sustainable Flowers
There are a few things you can do to minimize the negative social and environmental impacts.
Start by shopping locally, seasonally, and on time for holidays. Poor planning forces us to use same and next-day delivery, which exacerbates environmental impacts.
Shorten the distance your bouquet needs to travel by supporting local florists stocking seasonal flowers from nearby farms.
Seek organic options to minimize exposure to pesticides.
Support fair trade brands that promote the ethical treatment of works and farmers.
Try to choose seasonal flowers as growing flowers out of season requires the use of energy-intensive greenhouse and increase transportation.
Keep in mind packaging. Look for arrangements with minimal to no packaging. Try to avoid plastic wrap!
Look for third party certifications such as Rainforest Alliance, BloomCheck, Veriflora, Flor Ecuador, Florverde, and fair trade labels.
The next time you go to ship flowers to your loved one in another state consider looking for a company that sources flowers from florists or farms in their area! And consider the points above!
Hopefully this guide helped you better understand the flower industry and know how to make a more eco-conscious choice!
Meet the Author
Claudia Hauter is a South African writer, copy editor, and content creator with degrees in Drama and Anthropology. She works in television managing web content. When she isn’t reading or writing, she’s walking her dog, finding small businesses and markets to support, or attracting butterflies and bees with her vegetable garden. Learn from Claudia on Twitter or Instagram.
Emily Waddell
