Flowers with power
West Vancouver-based florist making industry more environmentally aware
Flowers make a beautiful, sustainably conscious gift for friends, family or even for oneself. Right?
According to Kamila Alikhani, the answer is — not always.
From plastic wrap to green flower foam, the West Vancouver-based florist says the industry can be a lot less green than people might expect it to be.
“Different colours of plastic, different layers of plastic and on top of that, the transparent cellophane,” Alikhani says. “It is just so unnecessary.”
While Alikhani says there are likely many in the flower industry who would prefer to embrace a more sustainable model — doing away with wasteful design extras, plastic wraps and excess buckets full of flowers — she says the presence of said items are ingrained in the industry processes, having been the norm for a very long time.
Coming from a non-floriculture background allowed her to see just how wasteful the industry was.
“I guess because I didn't come from a traditional floral industry, I could see it more clearly. And it really bothered me,” she says of the unnecessary extras. “We don't need it. It's just a habit.”
But, when the former business analyst proposed a change in the bouquet wrapping and flower recycling programs at a local shop where she was working following a break from her career to raise a family, Alikhani recalls how she was met with resistance.
“I loved it,” Alikhani says of her time spent working in the shop. “But nothing was recycled — the green bin was mixed with tons of plastic. It was heartbreaking.”
So, she decided to create her own flower endeavour, one that was centred around floristry with a sustainable mindset. And Bloomier, was the result.
“Somewhere where I could have a mindful, sustainable approach to floristry,” Alikhani says of the business. After developing a business plan, she decided to launch her new company as a flower subscription service.
“I saw it from the perspective of the client first,” she says of the subscription model. “Because I love flowers. And I always want to have flowers at home.”
Stemming from that personal preference, Alkhani hoped that others would to.
“As a client, you would subscribe for either monthly, bi-weekly or weekly flower deliveries,” Alikhani says. “The subscription model is one of the ways to keep our zero-waste approach. It allows us to source only the flowers needed for each set of arrangements. And that way we have no extra stock on hand and there are no unused flowers to be thrown away.”
The monthly subscription costs $59, while it's $70 for bi-weekly and $100 for weekly deliveries. The first bouquet delivery comes with a vase, which is then meant to be used to house the following bouquet deliveries. Flowers are delivered for free within the service area, which includes downtown Vancouver and the North Shore.
Deliveries are organized on Mondays and Fridays in an attempt reduce their emissions footprint, Alikhani says. The bouquets come wrapped in tissue paper, which is a material approved for recycling in local paper recycling bags and bins, according to Recycle B.C. The stems are secured with a silk ribbon, which Alikhani hopes recipients reuse.
On average, a flower might last a week to two weeks after being cut, according to the florist. If the fresh flower isn't purchased by the end of the first week, she says, the chances of it being bought after are “even lower.”
“It's not going to look its best,” Alikhani says. For this reason, Bloomier doesn't sell individual bouquets; the aim being to avoid throwing away any unused flowers.
“I don't want to have a stock of flowers just in case someone wants to order a bouquet,” Alikhani says. “Because, the chance is, they might not.”
In nearly a year of business, Alikhani says her company has never thrown away a flower.
“Even after a big event, we organize a team of volunteers to collect the gently used flowers and then we turn them into bedside bouquets for hospice patients,” Alikhani says.
The approach, she says, gives the flowers a “new life,” while also offering some comfort to an unsuspecting recipient.
“It started really early on when we started working with business working on their corporate events. I realized that the flowers would be thrown away and I thought, this is not right,” Alikhani says. “I usually ask permission of the clients if I can have a small group of people after the event to pick up the flowers.”
From there, the Bloomier repurposes the flowers into small bouquets, taking them to the Bloom Group, a non-profit organization in the Downtown Eastside, to give to the residents of one of the organizations residences.
“Sometimes, if I don't have enough volunteers, I take the flowers to seniors homes and we remake the bouquets at seniors homes and then I take them to the hospice,” she says.