Foam Free flower arranging

Foam free flower arranging – what’s the story?

Floral foam is one of those items that is so closely associated with floristry and floral design that it’s something that many of us don’t often think of. When you purchase a Christmas wreath or send a flower arrangement to a friend or loved one, for a wedding, a birthday, Valentine’s Day or other special occasion, many of us tend to expect that the flowers will be arranged using a foam centrepiece – simply because that’s the way that flowers have traditionally been arranged.

However, we’re campaigning a move to floral foam free flower arranging and like many in the industry, are passionate about this move for many reasons. It may seem like a strange thing to do but actually, the unassuming, often overlooked floral foam can actually be a problem item. Read on to find out more about floral free flower arranging and why we hope it becomes the norm.

1. It’s bad for the environment

Did you know that come floral foams (which are also often referred to as an oasis in the floristry trade) are actually made from petro-chemicals. If that wasn’t a scary enough thought, some foams contain dangerous ingredients that normally, you wouldn’t want anywhere near you or in your home; things such as formaldehyde and sulphate.

It goes without saying that those chemicals are especially harmful to the environment, particularly if they are used extensively – such as to satisfy the demand for tonnes of floral foam.

• It ends up in landfill

Another reason that floral foam tends to be bad news for the environment is that it isn’t recyclable so it ends up in landfill. Anything that we can do to reduce what gets sent to landfill is something we want to campaign, so moving to foam free flower arranging can be a big step forwards for a better environment.

• It’s harmful when absorbed

Now, we know that you aren’t going to inhale your beautiful flower arrangement but when the foam gets too dry it becomes dust which can be inhaled.

So, we’ve heard about the green arguments for going foam free but what about the floristry side?

• You can be more creative

Foam free flower arrangements demand more creativity so the end result is dramatically different to what you may expect. It’s a great way to encourage experimentation and artistic expression and means you’ll see lots of different styles of floral displays too, which is great news if you want to make a statement!

• 

• 

•