John R Thomas and our commitment to environmental and ethical best practice 

As a business we are acutely aware of the potential impact on the environment, our carbon footprint and promoting the use of good welfare for workers, including Faire Trade. We continually strive to learn and improve where possible to implement this ethos.

Flowers

• We use seasonal, high-quality flowers from reputable suppliers.
• Where possible we try to use British and Irish growers, e.g. Cornish tulips, daffs and alstroemeria.
• Our Dutch suppliers promote the use of high ethical standards including Faire Trade where applicable.
• Please ask us for further information about our suppliers.
• We plan our flower deliveries, so we have larger orders, fewer times a week to lessen fuel usage.

Plants

• We try to use locally British seasonally grown plants where possible from the South Shropshire/Herefordshire border.
• If we do have to order from Dutch sellers, we coordinate their arrival with flowers to reduce fuel consumption.
• We have managed to source some plants that have come from peat free nurseries.
• We are currently looking for suppliers that use plastic free containers.
• We feed and care for all indoor and outdoor plants to avoid as much waste as possible.

Materials

• Unless requested otherwise by the customer, we use paper, brown string and raffia to wrap bouquets.
• Our flowers are delivered in reuseable boxes that are collected on the next delivery.
• Do we supply Oasis floral foam? Yes, we do if requested. We also supply wool blocks as an alternative, and are trialling biodegradable bases.
• However, we encourage the use of non-foam options, for example in funeral work we strongly promote tied sheafs which are fully compostable, wrapping included.
• Our carrier bags now include brown paper bags and degradable carriers if requested.
• We issue email receipts unless paper is requested.

Waste

• On the rare occasions we have floral waste we donate these flowers to the food bank or care homes.
• We separate our wrapping and packaging from deliveries and these are responsibly collected, recycled and disposed of by a waste management company.
• Any unbroken boxes or pots we give to customers as an alternative to bags should they wish. We also encourage them to return them when they’re next passing the shop.
• We also give surplus or tired plants, and spare buckets/pots to a local charity called Gyn’s Garden in Church Stretton.

Pet supplies

• We only sell items we would be happy for our own pets to use.
• We don’t stock rawhide.
• We try to order treats and food that are as natural as possible.
• We are continually researching our pet toys, are now supply some toys that are made from recycled plastics.