Floral foam: What is it and why is it bad?

Have you ever bought an arrangement that has this foam stuff in the bottom where the stems are inserted? That's floral foam, otherwise known as flower foam or oasis bricks. What you might not know (and should know) is what it's made from and the affects it has on the environment. We will delve deeper into this topic so that you can be armed with information and know why there is a push for florists to stop using it. Resources will be at the end.

So what is floral foam?

The main ingredients of floral foam is a microplastic made from phenyl and formaldehyde, both ingredients being very toxic. However during the manufacturing process, normal use of floral foam should not lead to adverse health effects. That being said, it is toxic to our aquatic life, insects, and flora. When floral foam is disposed of, it is recommended by manufacturers to wash the water down the sink and put the floral foam in the soil to 'improve drainage'. This should not be done as the chemicals seep out into the water or earth surrounding, impacting vegetation and animal life.

So why even use floral foam?

It actually has a couple of purposes, one of them being to create intricate designs and place flowers exactly where you want them securely, and the other being to prolong life.

Take the arrangement above, this is a table runner that usually uses floral foam to achieve, to get those flowers in the position they're in, otherwise not using anything would result in flowers falling out and water going everywhere. So how did I make this without floral foam?

Chicken wire. It's that simple really. I have an informative video coming out on how I created the base for this design, and can be customised to any other suitable arrangement.

Okay so why should florists be concerned with this?

The simple answer is that we work with nature, and if nature dies, our industry dies. As florists, we have a commitment to the survival of nature and as such we should do everything we can to not further our ecological impact. Nature is part of us and we are seeing the effects of climate change in real time.

And why should I as the customer care?

Everyone should care, not just people who buy flowers. As humans, we are caretakers of earth and let's be honest, we are letting her down. We are pushing for more technological advances, caring more about money than lives, allowing genocides and enslavement and war to happen, all at the expense of our humanity (which is fully enmeshed with nature). The way forward is to make steps to lesson our own ecological impact while still engaging with things that bring us joy.

Here are some resources for further reading:

Read more about floral foam:

Sustainable Floristry Network

Bloom College

Read about the ecological impacts of the floristry industry:

The Flower Club

Solutions:

Climate Change Summit