RHP joins FSI2025 

WESTLAND, Netherlands: RHP, the Dutch certification scheme for substrates and raw materials has joined the Floriculture Sustainability Initiative (FSI2025), the most important sustainability initiative in the floriculture sector.

FSI2025 has more than 80 members, including producers, traders and retailers. RHP joins to share its knowledge about the safe use of peat and peat substitutes within the floriculture supply chain, where phasing out peat is becoming an increasingly high priority for retailers.

“We are increasingly discussing growing media, the phasing out of peat, and the use of new raw materials with growers, traders and retailers . At the moment, peat  continues to be frequently used in substrate manufacturing, while several retailers have the ambition to use less peat. In fact, many retailers no longer want to have any peat on the shelf in the long term,” says Raymond Hedges, director of RHP.

The growing media industry has been working with renewable raw materials for many years. Peat is also increasingly being extracted from RPP (Responsibly Produced Peat) -certified sites, which means that new peatlands remain unaffected.

Hedges: “You see an incredible effort by the sector to become more sustainable and to switch to new growing media. Of course, this must be done without loss of quality and there is a field of tension there. The RHP quality mark assures this quality and our research team is busy with collective research into renewable materials.”

Jeroen Oudheusden, director of FSI2025, is pleased to have RHP on board. He says, “With the available expertise of RHP, we can further expand our sustainability initiative to the contents of the pot in a well-founded manner.”

Hedges concludes: “Phasing out peat and using renewable materials is already in full swing, but is much more complex than many people think. That story, with all its nuances, we will tell at the tables of FSI2025.”