POTR, the company behind the world’s first origami self-watering plant pot, has been named Sustainable Garden Product of the Year at this year’s Chelsea Flower show by The Royal Horticultural Society, the UK’s leading gardening charity.
Competition judge Deborah Meaden described POTR’s products as “deeply sustainable from the word go”.
“You can see that they’ve thought about absolutely everything – sustainability was designed in”, the environmental campaigner and host of BBC Radio 5 Live’s Big Green Money Show continued. “It’s a brilliant material that they’re using, it’s recycled, and it can be recycled again. But it looks cool, and it’s flat packed, it can go through your letterbox… I’m in!”
POTR’s pots are designed and produced in Glasgow and Bristol with its environmental footprint in mind, using 90% less material than a traditional plant pot. They are made from recycled polypropylene and recycled cotton that would have otherwise ended up in landfill.
The designers conducted a life cycle analysis of a traditional plant pots to discover the carbon hotspots, sowing the seed for the unique origami design which allows the pot to be posted via letterbox for low carbon footprint delivery.
With a focus on sustainability, the competition aims to highlight the best environmentally friendly products for people’s gardening needs, celebrating the horticultural industry’s efforts to promote eco-friendly and ethical consumerism.
Fellow judge Professor Chris Harrop OBE, visiting Professor of Sustainable Business at University of Huddersfield Business School, praised POTR for embracing “a holistic approach to sustainable design, resulting in a unique product which places environmental impact at the core of the product design.”
The company’s founder Andrew Flynn, a former Dyson engineer who guest lectures at Glasgow School of Art, said: “Winning this award and seeing the reaction from customers at the Chelsea Flower Show once again showed us we’re heading in the right direction – everyone is thinking about the impact of everything they do and buy, environmentally and socially. And our products certainly seem to catch people’s imagination.”
Last year POTR launched its first flat pack vase which includes a copper stem inspired by the centuries-old hack of using 1 or 2p coins to keep flowers fresh, healthy, and alive.
To learn more about POTR products visit their website: www.potr.co.
