Reduce the amount of flowers thrown away April 4th 7:26pm

``You can't sell crooked vegetables on the market. The same goes for flowers.'' - These are the words of a flower farmer.

Flowers decorate the space with their beauty and provide healing. On the other hand, some flowers are secretly discarded before reaching consumers. Why does flower loss occur?

(Sachiyo Nagano, Economics Department, News Bureau/Soichiro Inoue, Metropolitan Area Network)

What happens to the flower that has become substandard?

My name is Wataru Onuki, a carnation farmer from Atsugi City, Kanagawa Prefecture.

I have been cultivating carnations for 30 years. Shipping will reach its peak in May.

When I visited for this interview in late March, Mr. Onuki was sorting products for shipment.

The length, thickness, softness, and bending of the stem. From the number of flowers to the condition of the petals. Only flowers that meet all the criteria are shipped to the market as products.

The annual shipment volume is approximately 300,000 to 350,000 bottles.

To prevent the stems from bending, each flower is carefully nurtured by placing a net over it and pinching the buds as they grow, but it is said that about 20% of the flowers harvested still end up substandard. .

Mr. Onuki

: ``There may be some aspects of the standards that consumers may not understand.However, it is the florists who sell the products to the market and ultimately purchase them, and the florists use them.'' Anything that is difficult to find is out of the standard. For example, if the stem is thin, it won't stand up straight and is difficult to arrange. If it doesn't meet the standard, florists will be limited in how it can be used."

ultimately discarded

Flowers that do not meet the standard specifications are sometimes sold through other routes other than the market, such as at vegetable stands, but the price drops to about 20% of what it would be if shipped to the market.

However, it is said that if the flowers cannot be disposed of, the only option is to throw them away.

Mr. Onuki:

``If we ship flowers that are difficult to use and do not meet the specifications, it will affect the trust and reputation of the farmer.Even if we were to make the specifications more lenient and the number of flowers shipped would increase, the unit price would go down accordingly. It's a waste because we're spending the same amount of time and effort on non-standard products, but we can't help it."

The manager of a flower shop in the Tokyo metropolitan area said the following.

Flower shop owner:

``The length of the stems and the number of buds have little to do with personal consumption. However, from a florist's perspective, there is more demand from companies than individuals, so the length of the stems is also important. However, the truth is that flowers that meet the standards are easier to arrange in various ways when decorating."

There is a certain amount of loss even at flower shops.

Flowers that pass strict standards and are put on the market. Even if you finally arrive at a flower shop after going through various distribution processes, there will still be a certain amount of loss.

For example, red carnations for Mother's Day or poinsettias and roses for Christmas. Demand increases rapidly in the lead up to the day, but by the next day, that demand has almost disappeared.

Currently, it is difficult to reliably predict demand in advance.

Although flower shops try various methods such as selling at discounted prices, unsold or damaged flowers are inevitable, resulting in a certain amount of loss.

According to the Japan Floral Marketing Association, approximately 20% to 30% of flowers are wasted during the production stage. It is estimated that losses at flower shops generally amount to about 30% of the flowers purchased.

The association believes that this ratio is higher than in Europe and the United States, where individual demand is high.

Yoshiyuki Matsushima, Executive Director, Japan Floral Marketing Association:

``In Japan, 70% of the demand for flowers is for business purposes such as ceremonial occasions and events, and demand from individuals only accounts for about 30%.In Europe and America, 70% of demand is from individuals. Therefore, there are various specifications, and for example, flowers with short stems are also available.As a result, the loss rate during the production stage is also thought to be much lower than in Japan.''

Some point out that this high waste rate has an impact on individual purchases.

Ai Hirose, Senior Researcher, Agriculture and Food Group, Yano Research Institute:

``Currently, demand for events and business use is on a recovery trend, but the waste rate has been a problem in the flower industry even before the coronavirus pandemic. If this happens, the selling price of flowers will increase, which in turn increases the psychological threshold for purchasing flowers, creating a vicious cycle in which the number of new buyers does not increase.

Personal demand holds the key

How can we reduce the amount of flowers that are wasted? During our interviews, all those involved agreed that the key to resolving the issue was stimulating "individual demand."

The Japan Floral Marketing Association holds events to encourage younger generations to purchase flowers, has a certification system to control quality at each stage of production, distribution, and retail, and sells flowers with a guaranteed shelf life. We are working to encourage people to enjoy flowers at home for a long time.

Create an opportunity to get familiar with flowers

Yukari Matsuno, who runs a flower shop in Tokyo, is working to create opportunities for people to become familiar with flowers by selling non-standard flowers.

On this day, Mr. Matsuno was arranging flowers not at his own flower shop, but at the front of a clothing thrift shop.

All flowers are non-standard flowers purchased from farmers. We sell various types of flowers such as roses and tulips for 200 yen each.

Hanavie CEO Yukari Matsuno:

``It would be nice to receive flowers, but there are many people who don't have the opportunity to buy them.We wanted to make it easier for people to decorate with flowers, but we came across flowers that did not meet our standards. There's nothing wrong with viewing it, but it would be a shame to have it thrown away."

I thought that if there were reasonably priced flowers at a store that I usually go to or that I pass by, it might be an opportunity to pick them up.

Now, we regularly sell our products at 20 stores, including cake shops and jewelry shops.

There are also benefits for the stores that cooperate.

Person in charge of a clothing thrift shop

: ``I think it's great that even customers who haven't visited the store before get the impression that having flowers in the store makes it easier to enter the store.''When there are flowers, it looks glamorous from the outside, so I think it's great.'' , it has become positive.”

Mr. Onuki, the carnation farmer introduced at the beginning, now sells flowers to this initiative every week.

Representative Yukari Matsuno:

``Flowers are living things, so I think it's difficult to reduce waste to zero.However, if displaying flowers becomes a daily thing, demand will increase, and there will be fewer flowers left over with no destination.'' I think it would be good if we could utilize it in various ways and reduce losses.”

Flowers in a “different form”

Some companies buy non-standard flowers or unsold flowers from intermediate wholesalers and process them into dried flowers.

Companies in Tokyo are working on ways to maintain the bright colors of dried flowers for a long period of time, such as by absorbing the dye and adding color to the flowers.

Dried flowers are used to decorate spaces such as events and hotels, and to make bouquets and candles.

Recently, we have jointly developed board materials used in furniture and other products in collaboration with trading companies. The design is enhanced by arranging the surface with dried flowers.

Haruka Kawashima, CEO of RIN:

``The processing of dried flowers expands the ways they can be used, and we feel it has a wide range of possibilities.We want to work across the boundaries of various companies and the flower industry to create products that extend the life of flowers and can be used with care. I want to.”

Reusing wedding flowers

Hibiya Kadan has over 70 flower shops nationwide. From April 1st, we began working with companies that operate wedding halls to reuse flowers used to decorate wedding reception venues.

Approximately half of the flowers used at the reception are taken home by the guests attending. However, the remaining flowers had to be disposed of in accordance with the law.

In this project, if we receive permission for the secondary use of the flowers, we will use them to decorate facility lobbies and restaurants, as well as process them into dried flowers and commercialize them.

The goal is to reuse 130,000 flowers a year.

During the course of this interview, I heard from many people involved, ``Flowers are not a necessity for daily life, but...'' and ``We live in an era where dango are more important than flowers...''

I want to stop the flowers that add color to our lives from being thrown away. I would like to pay attention to the future of various initiatives aimed at reducing ``mottainai.''

*Broadcast on “Saturday Watch 9” on March 30th

Economic Department reporter

Yukiyo Nagano

Joined in 2011

Gifu bureau Kagoshima bureau

Current position after working for Economic Department ``Saturday Watch 9''

Director

Soichiro Inoue

After being involved in productions such as "Saturday Watch 9", he will be in charge of "Metropolitan Area Network" from April 2024.