Of the many challenges floral design firms face in making steps towards environmental sustainability, floral foam's inability to biodegrade is a major hurdle that needs to be overcome. For those of you who are unfamiliar with floral foam, its that green, spongy stuff that we stick flowers into. And its a ton of fun to squish with your fingers. Here's a picture that I borrowed off of the
Oasis Floral Foam website just in case you need a visual.
This product is a key component is creating great design. The floral foam allows us to make arrangements in ways that is not possible in a conventional vase or container while keeping the flowers well hydrated. So, it was very disheartening for me when I learned that it is made of plastic and is not biodegradable. My thoughts went right back to waste-land...or should I say waste-island...sitting in the middle of our ocean.
So, what are my options? I've searched for biodegradable foam but it has not been developed yet. If you're reading this and you have the means to invent it, do it. You'll be rich and I'll buy from you. Actually, I found one company all the out in the UK called
Val Spicer but it seems they aren't serving the US yet and the product selection is very limited. Give it more time, I'm sure I'll eventually be able to have access to this revolutionary product.
In the meantime, we've come up with a solution that we are testing right now. Want to know what it is? Okay, fine. I'll tell you.
Watermelon.
Yep, watermelon. It is the closest natural ingredient that is similar to the texture of floral foam - porous enough to insert floral stems and wet enough to keep the thirsty flowers happy.
I'll keep you posted on the results of this watermelon-foam.
If it passes all the tests, we'll be making the switch from floral foam to fruit.
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