New UK Houseplant grower makes plants even greener

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Geb & Green is the first UK houseplant company to grow at scale without using peat

1 December 2022 – Cambridge, UK – Think your houseplants are already green? Think again. Brand new houseplant grower Geb & Green is on a mission to make houseplants up and down the country even greener, thanks to their plants being grown without using peat right here in the UK.

Geb & Green is the only houseplant company in the UK growing at scale that doesn’t use peat as a growing medium, making sustainable, environmentally friendly plants easily accessible to plant parents who want to make the conscious choice when it comes to their plant babies.

For many of us, choosing to fill our homes with beautiful, lush plants is a way to bring nature inside, improve the quality of the air we breathe and reap the plentiful health, wellness and aesthetic benefits that houseplants provide.

But behind our UK houseplants is an industry that is damaging our environment more than most of us realise. The majority of houseplants sold in the UK are imported as mature plants and grown using peat[i], a natural carbon store that is extracted for use as a growing medium.

Every year in the UK, peatlands release more carbon than all of the HGVs on our roads combined and globally, damaged peatlands are emitting 6% of all global greenhouse gas emissions. Suddenly, those beautiful green plants don’t look quite so green.

Will Clayton, one of the founders of Geb & Green, said: “Many people simply don’t know about the negative effect that extracting peat has on our environment and that houseplants are contributing to climate change by using peat as a growing medium.

As a nation we are all becoming so much more conscious of our environmental impact, switching to recyclable materials instead of plastic, driving electric vehicles and being mindful of our carbon footprint, but what lots of people aren’t aware of is that the very item they expect to be green, in fact is quite the opposite.

We set up Geb & Green as we weren’t aware of any UK houseplant grower cultivating plants at scale without using peat as a growing medium and saw an opportunity to make it easier for people to buy UK grown plants and stop damaging our peatlands, which are unfortunately at huge risk.

My family has been in the horticulture industry for 25 years, most recently growing and selling ornamental flowers, but I knew I wanted to put our glasshouses to better use, to grow plants in a sustainable, environmentally friendly way that would make a contribution towards restoring our valuable peatlands. By making one simple change and only buying houseplants grown in the UK without using peat as a growing medium, UK consumers can contribute positively to reducing our carbon emissions.”

Kate Brown, Co-founder and Marketing Director at Geb & Green, said: “As a mum of two young children, the legacy we are leaving for the generations to come is hugely important to me and when I started exploring peat extraction and the use of peat to grow plants, I knew I wanted to be part of Geb & Green’s mission to transform the houseplant industry.

All of Geb & Green’s plants are grown right here in the UK, in a peat free growing medium using environmentally friendly growing techniques to make our plants some of the greenest in the UK. We know that people are passionate about their plants, and with Geb & Green consumers now have a sustainable and environmentally friendly alternative when choosing plants for their homes.”

Geb & Green’s houseplants launch in January and will be available to buy online at www.gebandgreen.co.uk.