The International Association of Horticultural Producers (AIPH) members consist of thousands of growers of flowers and ornamental plants around the world who are together united by one essential goal – promoting the place of plants in people’s lives.
AIPH hosts several conferences, webinars and events such as the International Grower of the Year award throughout the year. Read about these along with the latest news about the association’s activities.
AIPH’s key aim is to stimulate demand for ornamental trees, plants and flowers worldwide. We are committed to supporting growers in achieving this by protecting and promoting the interests of the industry.
Four more big name in ornamental horticulture shape the future of the reusable Euro Plant Tray
Hans-Gerd Cox, director Gebrüder Cox GmbH, says, “Euro Plant Tray represents a collaborative solution for the whole industry, not another isolated stand-alone solution. We feel responsible and want to make our contribution to sustainability and plastic savings within the cooperative and thus actively collaborate with our producers and customers.”
Four more big name in ornamental horticulture, Landgard, Plantify Partners Europe, Floral Trade Group and Gebrüder Cox GmbH have joined Euro Plant Tray (EPT), a consortium of 20 floral wholesalers, trade associations, garden retailers, DIY stores from Germany, the Netherlands, Austria and Switzerland. Industry-watchers say it is breaking ground for the reusable Euro Plant Tray, whose debut is expected for 2024.
Two years ago, Deutsche Umwelthilfe e.V. (DUH) invited major stakeholder from within the horticultural supply chain to address the plastics problem. What started as a wake up call for the participants has since then evolved into a rapidly growing consortium representing all actors within the horticultural supply chain.
Michiel de Haan (right), CEO of Royal Lemkes, says, “From the beginning of EPT we have supported the initiative via the VGB as Dutch Accelerators as it supports Royal Lemkes’ dream towards Positive Plants which includes drastically reducing singular plastics towards a circular sector. Benoit Strauven, CEO of Floréac: “Joining this EPT initiative is evident for Floréac, due to our intrinsic motivation to make the world a better place. We count on all sector partners to make this transition to a sustainable sector.”
Matthijs Mesken is managing director of the Dutch Association of Wholesalers in Floricultural Products (VGB), and one of the Euro Plant Tray members. He says, “Together with 7 other partners we founded Euro Plant Tray eG in August 2022. We strongly believe that only a joint approach will lead to a European working solution for the future. We are happy that in the meantime 14 further companies have joined and that with the participation of Royal FloraHolland, Dutch Flower Group, FM Group and lately also Plantify Partners Europe (Royal Lemkes and Floreac) and Floral Trade Group the Dutch part of the industry is well-represented within EPT. Their established partnerships with retail customers will help spread the EPT message across Europe.”
“Landgard has joined Euro Plant Tray eG to support the further development towards an industry-wide reusable tray system. We have been in close contact with Euro Plant Tray eG and the previous working groups from the beginning, so we are now taking this step to support a joint industry solution. As part of Euro Plant Tray eG, Landgard will play an active role in shaping the development and will also contribute existing know-how from its intensive involvement with the topic of reusable trays,” says Johannes Kronenberg, Managing Director of Landgard Blumen & Pflanzen GmbH.
Market acceptance and recognition plays a major part in establishing a new system which will change processes all along the supply chain. The Euro Plant Tray partners agree that all logistics processes have to be kept as simple as possible. The future setup of hire models and pool management services consequently have a major role to make EPT a success. Within the working groups, experts from sales, logistics and finance from wholesale as well as retail give their input to come to a feasible solution.
Cooperations like Royal FloraHolland and Landgard represent the needs of the producers in the supply chain. “EPT’s focus on sustainability and supply chain collaboration is unique. The speed of EPT product and service development and its growing number of participants show the wish of the industry to find solutions and the impact that cooperations with collective goals can have. Who would have thought that the industry is picking up our wake up call from 2 years ago as they have done. DUH clearly sees this project as a beacon in sustainability project work,” notes Thomas Fischer, of environmental protection organisation Deutsche Umwelthilfe e.V.
Greenhouse professionals and other stakeholders from within Ukraine’s horticulture industry will meet with their Dutch counterparts during a ‘Rebirth of…
