The Wonder of Waste
The launch of Treasure Gardening, a new disruptive social enterprise, has been inspired by our realisation that there is a treasure trove of waste that can be turned into amazing products helping gardeners go greener.
We started by investigating how to create a sustainable, affordable and effective replacement for peat. Working with one of the country’s leading experts, a mix was created containing high quality green waste collected by local authorities to which we added a waste by-product of the coconut industry called coir, wood off-cuts from the furniture industry and wood bark.
The resulting growing media, which will be marketed as Wonderfuel, underwent laboratory tests and growing trials with award-winning gardeners. The results have been fantastic with it outperforming both peat and peat free. David Hall the owner of professional growers ‘Halls of Heddon’ reported:
“It did produce really good quality plants, even with Dahlias, which can be quite tricky.”
We realised that if we could produce Wonderfuel at scale we could hasten the transition from peat in horticulture. Our search for a production partner led us to a family-run company called Durstons. Based in Somerset and with a 150-year heritage, they were determined to move their production away from using peat from the Somerset levels to more sustainable alternatives. The partnership with Durston’s enables us to support their transition and rapidly produce Wonderfuel at scale.
Our trials identified that professional and amateur gardeners need more guidance on how to successfully grow plants using peat free growing media. We have led a partnership of retailers, growers, charities and trade bodies to create some standard, accurate and concise information that will help all gardeners move successfully from peat. We believe that this level of collaboration is essential to help create wider change and it will be a fundamental value for the new company.
The creation of Wonderfuel has inspired us to think more broadly. What other waste products exist that can be turned into amazing products? Answering this question will be a major quest providing we can get the company successfully established.
First, we will be looking to use more UK based waste by-products in Wonderfuel to replace things we have to import such as coir. A variety of options exist such as waste hops from the brewery sector, dog hair, sheep’s wool and biochar. We will extensively test these and review existing data to ensure that their inclusion has no detrimental impact on quality, consistency and affordability.
We will also explore other options. We are intrigued about the successes that farmers and other companies have had using discarded seafood shells such as whelks and scallops as a way of replacing fertiliser, deterring slugs and increasing aeration. We are fascinated by the steps that Waitrose has taken using foliage from tomato plants in their packaging as a way of replacing plastic. These two examples suggest that there is a wealth of opportunity for creating more circular solutions for farmers and gardeners.
Our decision to launch Treasure Gardening is financially risky as we have six months to effectively take Wonderfuel into the market. We are willing to take this risk as we believe that the horticultural sector is ripe for disruptive innovation. We are determined to create a range of innovative and effective products that celebrate the wonders of waste, provide gardeners with high quality advice and ultimately use profits generated to support community-growing initiatives. If you support our ambitions and are able to help in whatever way you can please contact me trewin@sizzle.org.uk.