Plants in a circular economy: plant rehabilitation
At Plantclub, our goal is to green up your office (and life) in a multitude of ways. Our sustainable model is constructed with circularity in mind, meaning that although plants are perishable, we aim toward regeneration in an effort to decrease landfill and waste. Through plant rehabilitation, expert plant care, and our leasing model, we prioritize giving the best plants the longest life possible.
Circular economy models include performing life cycle assessments (LCAs) or adopting subscription memberships that reduce consumption in production, meaning everything gets put to good use and lives multiple lives. You’ve heard reduce, reuse, and recycle – now let’s talk about what that means in practice.
Rent, rehabilitate, reuse
Circular businesses like Plantclub and our partner NORNORM operate on subscription-based models, meaning that when a business purchases our services, we use the products until the end of their life cycle. So even if a plant gets sick or an office downsizes, we take the plants back and make sure they either get rehabilitated or rehomed elsewhere.
Plantclub uses markers to show which plants have been reused and given a new life!
Plant rehabilitation begins with plant care, wherein our trained Plant Experts build up a plant’s health with proper watering and administration of nutrients. Our team’s plant care expertise means that office plants are less susceptible to disease, pests, or the number one house plant killer: overwatering. Our Plant Experts make their rounds to each office every two weeks. Should a plant become sick in a space, they will either treat it on-site to avoid the stress of moving it out, or bring it back to Plantclub HQ where we can regenerate and rehome it.
We’re proud to report that of the plants that are brought from offices to our HQ, 80% of them undergo full rehabilitation and are sent to green up another space.
Plant care education
In the workplace, we reduce waste by leaving the plant care to the experts in charge; that doesn’t mean you’re totally on your own when you return to your plants at home. Through providing how-to plant care articles and offering seasonal workshops to our member companies, our goal is to make sure that no plants go to waste by making sure everyone becomes a bit of a plant expert themselves.
Plantclub summer workshop at Babbel. Photo courtesy of Paul Schulze
Setting goals for the future
Each company that produces any kind of waste has a responsibility to consider what the future of their resource use and reuse will look like. As Plantclub grows we hope to expand our goals exponentially. Some of these goals could include increasing our circularity by building out a collection of “specimen plants”, that can be propagated and reused.
Our future goals include:
Creating a database of plant health and usage to track travel, average lifespan, and legacy.
Increased biological pest control throughout our work space and in client offices.
Working directly with our suppliers toward more sustainable sourcing and waste management, including recycling nursery pots and improving efficiency of shipping and logistics.
In 2024, we will launch a flagship program for more comprehensive green waste management and water recycling.
Plantclub.io provides you and your colleagues with the benefits of plants, wherever you work. Rent office plants and transform your space into a green oasis, with flexible monthly membership options to suit your size. Diversify your employee perks with a dedicated company store, where you can give green gifts and your team can buy plants for their home office. Book a time to chat with us today.
