The flower business really blooms in February when Valentine's Day comes around with a few thousand tons of flowers flown into the US for buyers to snatch up. But what happens to the flowers that don't get purchased?
There are a few ways that flowers can become a thing of the past, a few of which options are rather sustainable. According to CNN, 12,600 tons of flowers grown in Colombia and Ecuador were flown into the US, Australia, and Europe for the special day. That's a lot of blooms.
Surely, not all of them were purchased. And even the ones that were bought will probably end up dying on kitchen counters everywhere. Here are some of the ways these flowers can be sustainably ditched:
Donate them
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Charities throughout the US will take unloved flowers and repurpose them for worthy causes. Take Random Acts of Flowers, for example. This organization will take bouquets to patients in hospice or assisted care facilities.
Valentine's Day shows an influx of flower donations, marking the busiest day of the year for the organization, according to Christina Sayer, the org's director of marketing and communications.
Use them for education
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Believe it or not, there's an educational purpose for old flowers if you're a florist-in-training. Bewilder Floral is a company in California that uses unloved flowers to teach students how to design the perfect bouquets.
Compost them
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Instead of sticking your dying blooms in the trash can, consider composting them so their nutrients can be used in soil to help out other living organisms. There are charities that will take your dying flowers for compost if you don't have the means to revert them to soil yourself.
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