Evergreen Garden Care Launches Industry-First Refill Stations

• These stations are leading the way within the garden industry, tackling the issue of single-use plastic head on 

Aiming to reduce single-use packaging, Evergreen Garden Care is driving innovation for reuse and refill concepts within the gardening industry - launching two industry-first refill stations across the UK. 

The first refill station launched on the 10^th of May in the Rivendell Garden Centre in Notcutts, Warrington allows consumers to purchase Tomorite straight from the machine.

First-time users can purchase a 1L bottle of Tomorite (£5.49) or an empty 1L Tomorite bottle for life (£1). Once the first bottle is purchased, consumers thereafter are encouraged to re-use it, allowing them to only pay for the liquid refill (£3.99). These returning customers will not only be reducing packaging but also benefiting from savings of £1 each time they opt for the refill station instead of the on-shelf pack. 

The second station launched on the 18^th of May at the British Garden Centre Groups PlayHatch store near Reading and focuses on Miracle-Gro grass seed and granular plant food. The stand allows consumers to purchase as much grass seed (99p per 100G) or controlled release plant food (67p per 100g) as they need – again, allowing consumers to save money by only purchasing what they intend to use. Contrary to the Tomorite station where a Tomorite-specific bottle is required, this station will allow users the options to either purchase a Miracle-Gro jar for life (£1.25), use a free paper bag, or bring their own preferred container to fill. 

Jane Hartley, Head of Sustainability and Marketing Manager comments: 

"There is a growing desire with consumers to reduce the amount of plastic packaging that we use. At Evergreen Garden Care we are continually looking at ways to help change consumers' behaviour. Over the last few years, we have increased the amount of recycled content in our packaging and introduced clear on-pack recycling information enabling consumers to take the right actions after they have used our products.  

“Our challenge at Evergreen is to reduce the overall amount of packaging we produce, and this can only be achieved by looking at alternative and innovative ways of using our products. That is why we’re very excited to have launched reuse and refill schemes in store.   

“Currently, refill stations have been launched as a test and learn concept with two progressive retailers, which will enable EGC to assess the feasibility for a full rollout in 2023. We shall be watching with interest and hope that consumers engage with the reuse concept. As with any trial we have had a few teething problems, yet the research we have generated has been invaluable to develop the concept further." 

Charlotte Hearne, Deputy Manager of British Garden Centre Groups Playhatch Garden Centre explains: 

“We are delighted to be working with Evergreen on such an innovative concept. The stand has created lots of interest with shoppers and our own staff. We are all really keen to make this a success and Evergreen has been working closely with us to make tweaks to the offer to make sure we get it right. 

“Recently a market research company spent the day at the store talking to our shoppers, encouraging them to use the refill station. It was fantastic to see shoppers’ responses and they were really impressed that we had a refill stand in the store and intended on coming back to use it.”

Source :  Evergreen Garden Care

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