Flower auction creates huge mountain of plastic waste

The plant trays, black polystyrene containers that hold a few plants, are single-use: disposable products that are discarded after a single use. This is despite the fact that a cheap, reusable alternative has existed for years. The single-use plant trays also cost Dutch plant growers an excessive amount of money.

Every day, Dutch flower and plant auctions trade around 12.6 billion plants and flowers. That is the share of Royal FloraHolland, by far the largest stakeholder in Dutch flower auctions.

The flowers are traded in reusable buckets. The plants, on the other hand, are traded mainly in single-use plant trays.

It is estimated that half a million disposable plant trays are used per day in the Netherlands, or 180 million per year. This leads to a mountain of waste amounting to 23,000 tonnes of polystyrene plastic, year after year.

This polystyrene (PS) is very difficult to recycle because the trays are distributed without a deposit to thousands of shops across fifteen countries. After the plants are sold, these shops are "stuck" with these trays that cannot be reused. Most likely, this polystyrene therefore ends up in the residual waste and is landfilled or incinerated in waste-to-energy plants spread across Europe.

Remarkably, the buckets in which flowers are traded do carry a deposit, which is why they do return to the auction.

The business model with plant trays

The Dutch flower auctions require growers to supply the plants in plant trays bearing the "Normpack" label. Growers can only buy these trays from a limited group of 6 plastic manufacturers who have bought a "licence" from the Dutch flower auctions, which de facto means Royal FloraHolland. Modiform, one of the six producers of single-use plant trays, has a market share of around 70 per cent.

The licensed companies charge growers around 25 euro cents per plant tray. Every year, an estimated 180 million disposable plant trays are bought in the Netherlands. It is therefore a multi-million euro business.

Remarkably, auctions in Belgium (e.g. the auction in Wetteren) or Germany (e.g. the auction in Düsseldorf) do not use a system with quality marks or licences. The Belgian and German auctions only specify requirements that the trays must meet. The Dutch system is therefore rather an exception. An auction can perfectly well apply specifications for packaging without there being a business model with a licence attached to it.

See also Follow the Money: Flower auction makes millions from plastic mountain of waste, 3 Nov 2018

Disposable versus reusable

The trays are single-use: they can only be used once. However, reusable trays, under the name Floratino, have existed since the 1990s. Former State Secretary Sharon Dijksma was asked questions about this in the House of Representatives and requested a study.

In a document from the Plastic Soup Foundation, it is stated that 1700 tonnes of Normpack plant trays go to recycler Morssinkhof via the auctions every year. But that would represent only 7.3% of the total volume.

The flower auctions have themselves produced a report on the environmental impact of single-use versus reusable. In 2017, FloraHolland published a summary of a study on disposable plant trays and reusable plant trays on this website. But they are not making the full report public. The political world did expect this, however. Sharon Dijksma stated in the House of Representatives that she would receive that report from the sector.

The summary of the study shows that reusable trays are at least 3x more environmentally friendly than disposable trays. But earlier analyses by CML and TNO suggest the difference is greater.

Plastic mountain of waste

We ask ourselves why the flower auctions have stuck to expensive disposable packaging for decades, when a cheap reusable alternative exists. Why does the sector cling to this crazy financing arrangement where disposable is baked into the business model? It is a non-transparent business model about which growers do not know exactly how it works. In these times of plastic soup and an ever-growing mountain of waste, it is urgent that this sector also switches to reusable packaging and trays. So that the plastic waste mountain can be reduced.

The flower and plant sector is part of Dutch pride. It is therefore important that this sector plays an exemplary role in making our economy more sustainable. Switching from disposable plastic trays to reusable models is a necessary step to bring the plastic waste mountain of Dutch flower auctions down to acceptable proportions.

See also:

NieuweOogst: ‘FloraHolland makes millions from plant tray‘, 5 November 2018

The plant trays, black polystyrene containers that hold a few plants, are single-use: disposable products that are discarded after a single use. This is despite the fact that a cheap, reusable alternative has existed for years. The single-use plant trays also cost Dutch plant growers an excessive amount of money.

Every day, Dutch flower and plant auctions trade around 12.6 billion plants and flowers. That is the share of Royal FloraHolland, by far the largest stakeholder in Dutch flower auctions.

The flowers are traded in reusable buckets. The plants, on the other hand, are traded mainly in single-use plant trays.

It is estimated that a half million disposable plant trays are used per day in the Netherlands, 180 million per year. This leads to a mountain of waste amounting to 23,000 tonnes of polystyrene plastic, year after year.

This polystyrene (PS) is very difficult to recycle because the trays are distributed without a deposit to thousands of shops across fifteen countries. After the plants are sold, these shops are "stuck" with these trays that cannot be reused. Most likely, this polystyrene therefore ends up in the residual waste and is landfilled or incinerated in waste-to-energy plants spread across Europe.

Remarkably, the buckets in which flowers are traded do carry a deposit, which is why they return to the auction.

The business model with plant trays

The Dutch flower auctions require growers to supply the plants in plant trays bearing the "Normpack" label. Growers can only buy these trays from a limited group of 6 plastic manufacturers who have bought a "licence" from the Dutch flower auctions, which de facto means Royal FloraHolland. Modiform, one of the six producers of single-use plant trays, has a market share of around 70 per cent.

The licensed companies charge growers around 25 euro cents per plant tray. Every year, an estimated 180 million disposable plant trays are bought in the Netherlands. It is therefore a multi-million euro business.

Remarkably, auctions in Belgium (e.g. the auction in Wetteren) or Germany (e.g. the auction in Düsseldorf) do not use a system with quality marks or licences. The Belgian and German auctions only specify requirements that the trays must meet. The Dutch system is therefore rather an exception. An auction can perfectly well apply specifications for packaging without there being a business model with a licence attached to it.

See also Follow the Money: Flower auction makes millions from plastic mountain of waste, 3 Nov 2018

Disposable versus reusable

The trays are single-use: they can only be used once. However, reusable trays, under the name Floratino, have existed since the 1990s. Former State Secretary Sharon Dijksma was asked questions about this in the House of Representatives and requested a study.

In a document from the Plastic Soup Foundation, it is stated that 1700 tonnes of Normpack plant trays go to recycler Morssinkhof via the auctions every year. But that would represent only 7.3% of the total volume.

The flower auctions have themselves produced a report on the environmental impact of single-use versus reusable. In 2017, FloraHolland published a summary of a study on disposable plant trays and reusable plant trays on this website. But they are not making the full report public. The political world did expect this, however. Sharon Dijksma stated in the House of Representatives that she would receive that report from the sector.

The summary of the study shows that reusable trays are at least 3x more environmentally friendly than disposable trays. But earlier analyses by CML and TNO suggest the difference is greater.

Plastic mountain of waste

We ask ourselves why the flower auctions have stuck to expensive disposable packaging for decades, when a cheap reusable alternative exists. Why does the sector cling to this crazy financing arrangement where disposable is baked into the business model? It is a non-transparent business model about which growers do not know exactly how it works. In these times of plastic soup and an ever-growing mountain of waste, it is urgent that this sector also switches to reusable packaging and trays. So that the plastic waste mountain can be reduced.

The flower and plant sector is part of Dutch pride. It is therefore important that this sector plays an exemplary role in making our economy more sustainable. Switching from disposable plastic trays to reusable models is a necessary step to bring the plastic waste mountain of Dutch flower auctions down to acceptable proportions.

See also:

NieuweOogst: ‘FloraHolland makes millions from plant tray‘, 5 November 2018