May 21, 2010 – Beginning June 1, garden centres in North America can seek certification under the MPS ABC environmental sustainability program.

For the past 15 years, growers worldwide have been certifying their operations on sustainability criteria, with the levels MPS-A, B or C. Now MPS has developed an MPS-ABC program for garden. centres

Theo de Groot, CEO of MPS, at left, presents Doug Cole with an MPS-ABC certificate during the 2009 Ohio Short Course.

Several MPS members in the U.S., operating both production facilities and garden centres, have been requesting the ability to certify their retail operations. “Now there is a program to do just that,” said an MPS spokesperson.

Participants can easily add the garden centre as an additional registration to their current account, which allows them the opportunity to promote the sustainability certification of their garden centre. Among the parameters recorded are the use of chemicals, energy and water usage, and the recycling of used plastic and paper.

MPS participant Doug Cole, from D.S. Cole Growers, explained why they requested an expansion of their greenhouse MPS-ABC rating for their garden centre.

“Since we are certified as an MPS grower, we are able to show our wholesale customers that that our products are grown in a sustainable manner. Our customers can then use this information to show the consumer that they are purchasing sustainably grown plants. When it comes to our garden centre, we will now take on the new MPS program focused on garden centres. With the new program geared specifically for garden centres, we will be able to add more legitimacy to our actions and to our marketing.”