Kingfisher Green Star Plants User Guide
- June 10, 2024
- KingFisher
Table of Contents
Kingfisher Green Star Plants
Introduction
What it means to choose a green star product
Products marked with the green star are designed to help customers identify items within our ranges with a focus on reducing environmental impacts. Customers can use the information provided to filter and understand more about the products they’re interested in or have purchased.
Why Plants In Our Gardens, Homes And Balconies Matter
The Royal Horticultural Society have found that over 4.5 million front gardens in Britain have no plants at all and that over a quarter have been paved over. There is increasing evidence that adding plants to our gardens and outdoor spaces can help to improve air quality, address flooding and manage temperatures.
Green star focuses on plants that address two key issues:
- Growing our own food.
- Being able to grow even a little produce can help to connect us to how our food is produced. Growing food gives customers control over whether to use chemicals and access to fresh produce with less packaging and transport needed.
- Supporting wildlife.
- Bees, butterflies and other wildlife can thrive in gardens, especially if they can access plants that provide them with food or shelter.
Criteria 1: How We Assess Green Star Products
Before assessment, every green star product must meet:
- All relevant legal requirements
- All Kingfisher policy requirements
You can access the Kingfisher policies here. These include Human
Rights, Supply Chain Workplace Standards and Sustainable Packaging.
Products are also checked against a Watch List. The watch list contains
several criteria or features, relevant to the product type, that if present
disqualify the product from being marked with a green star. The relevant Watch
List can be found at the end of this factsheet. The Watch List is reviewed and
revised annually.
Life cycle assessments have not been completed for every green star product,
but by employing policies and the Watch List Criteria in Kingfisher’s
Sustainable Home Product Guidelines, many factors in the life cycle of a
product are considered.
The green star ‘Plants assessment focuses on the in-use phase of the product’s
life cycle.
This is where the product can bring the biggest benefit to the user across its
utilisation, however green star excludes products that may have other
environmental aspects that are harmful either as a result of manufacture or
end of life disposal.
Criteria 2: Green Star Programme Entry
The criteria for plants is:
- Plants include seeds, plants, trees and shrubs. The variety of plant should be either:
- For use to grow produce. This includes herbs, vegetables, fruit and salad leaves.
- Specified as having a positive impact on wildlife. Kingfisher maintains a list of plants that meet this criteria that is available on request. The list is based on information from expert third parties, including the Royal Horticultural Society (through its Plants for Pollinators database), RSPB’s Best Trees for Birds and Wildlife , Best Shrubs for Birds and Wildlife.
Providing Criteria 1 and 2 have been met, a product can marked with the green star.
Reviewing and confirming green star status
- All products nominated and that meet criteria 1 and 2 are assessed internally by our sustainability team and submitted to NGO Bioregional for external validation.
- Once the external review is conducted, the product can then be confirmed and marked with the green star.
- A full review is conducted annually to ensure all products continue to meet the selection criteria.
To find out more about NGO Bioregional, click here
Watch List Criteria relevant to ‘Alternatives to Conventional Garden Chemicals’
This list includes features or aspects of products that make them unsuitable to be marked with the green star:
- The plant should not have a growing media that contains peat.
- Products where the packaging contains PVC or expanded polystyrene.
- Products that contain any wood that does not meet Kingfisher’s Forest Positive Policy.
- Products containing palm oil, cotton, rubber or leather with no evidence that the materials have been responsibly sourced.
References
- Sustainability Consultancy – Home – Bioregional
- RHS front garden research: Greening Grey Britain / RHS Gardening
- Activities
- Activities