Our Environmental Impact
The world of floristry is beautiful, but there is an ugly side that often gets swept under the rug (and into the trash can). When I first began working for a shop in Seattle, I was astounded by the amount of packaging and waste that could not be recycled. Mounds of thin plastic, rubberbands, coated cardboard, and glitter headed straight for the landfill. When you think of flowers, you think of organic material… but it has to be picked, packaged, flown, trucked, and kept cool until it arrives in the hands of us artists. There is also a human cost for all this labor and time, and it’s not always compensated fairly.
So many florists, especially those in the Pacific Northwest, are making changes for the better. Here are just a few ways Atomic Wild has committed to a smaller environmental footprint:
Sourcing locally grown flowers. Smaller shipping and packaging impact, better human working conditions, money into the local economy, and supporting small businesses. PLUS, we get a better product. Win-win!
Re-using mechanics. Those gorgeous installations you see us making? There are a lot of materials behind those pretty flowers you see! Chicken wire, vases, buckets, casket trays, and more. If it can be reused, it gets processed and put back into our inventory until the end of its functional life. This takes time, but its worth it in cost and impact.
Appropriately disposing of materials. Foliage gets composted, cardboard gets recycled, and trash (plastic, elastic, glitter, twist ties, water tubes, coated wire, tape) goes to the landfill. Properly sorting these discards is not as common as you think in a shop environment - who has time to separate little broken rubber bands from rose petals? WE do, and we do it because it matters to us (and to you).
There are so many ways we as florists can make a better name for the industry, and the West Coast artists - especially wedding and event artists - are at the forefront of that change. Thank you for supporting us and other vendors who consider the impact of their product and make the effort to be better!
