Jiffy Group is proud to announce the appointment of Richard Stevenson as its first Global Sustainability Manager from January 1st, 2021. The new role reflects Jiffy’s commitment to being an ever more sustainable company. A major supplier of growing media to the horticulture & agriculture sectors, it strives to be a leader in sustainable plant growing solutions. Jiffy asked Richard six questions:
Q: Hello Richard, what’s your background?
A: I studied horticulture and have been working in the industry ever since. I joined Jiffy in 2001 as UK Sales & Marketing Manager, then became European Sales Manager in 2011.
Q: What can you tell us about your new role?
A: I’m thrilled that Jiffy has committed fully to supporting this most important challenge. I am now ensuring we create, implement and monitor a robust, integrated sustainability strategy for the group.
Q: Why did Jiffy change its approach to sustainability?
A: Jiffy wants to be a leader in sustainable horticulture. We saw the need to take a more structured, global approach to accelerate our progress. This is an exciting time for Jiffy to build on the basic environmentally friendly nature of our products.
Q: How will it benefit customers?
A: Thanks to my sales background, I know our customers face pressure to quantify and improve their sustainability performance. We are committed to supporting them even more and to working closely with them to develop sustainability improvements together.
Q: Can you give us an example?
A: Replacing single-use fossil plastics is a challenge Jiffy has been working on for years and which we are now accelerating. For instance, customer can already choose to buy Jiffy-7 Pellets and Jiffy Growblocks with netting made from PLA netting. Based on cornstarch, PLA netting is made from 100% renewable plant-based materials. It’s fossil plastic-free, GMOfree, and certified biodegradable and compostable.
Q: What are the next steps?
A: Jiffy is converting all standard Growblock and Jiffy-7 Pellet products to PLA netting in 2021. This will reduce our annual fossil plastic consumption and greenhouse gas emissions by around 100 tons each. We are well on our way to achieving that goal – we currently use it on 95% of the Growblocks and 65% of the Pellets, up from 90% and 25% a year ago.
Plastic reduction is a key part of our sustainability strategy, but our vision and goals go way beyond it. We’ll be publishing our roadmap by the end of the first quarter, so watch this space!
Jiffy Products International
+31(0)78 2062200
sales@jiffygroup.com
www.jiffygroup.com