Interior plants offer a natural way to improve the air quality and appearance of commercial properties, but in order to really maximise the benefit of having interior greenery, property owners should make sure that the company servicing their interior plant displays follows sustainable practices themselves.
"We have developed a five year plan to reduce our own CO2 emissions and are providing environmental awareness training to all our staff," says Nathalie Harper-Leblond, marketing communications manager of Ambius, a division of Rentokil Initial.
She says Ambius has significantly reduced the amount of paper and fuel they use by promoting the use of electronic marketing materials and the use of teleconference and video conference technology to reduce the need for business travel. "When we do require printed materials, Ambius sales material is printed on Sappi's Triple Green Paper. We also reuse plants where possible and if we are unable to reuse plants we often donate them to schools or they are shredded and composted," Leblond continues.
Some of the sustainable practices she recommends companies follow when adding or taking care of their office plants are to give preference to indigenous plants which are water wise, hardy and more resistant to pests and disease; to use wood from renewable resources such as bamboo or wattle for wooden screens or pedestals as part of other indoor plant displays, and to use natural certified organic products, which are non-toxic and biodegradable, to control pests and diseases on plants.
