+ + + Recycling pays off

Aloys Oechtering, managing director of REMONDIS SmartRec GmbH, kicked off the event. He showed what opportunities there are for the landscaping sector in recycling - both as a supplier of recyclable waste and as a buyer of recycled products. The Remondis subsidiary Reterra (reterra.de) produces substrates from composts, wood waste, brick chippings, granulated blast furnace slag and other materials. There is also mulch, fall protection and other products.

Physicist Carsten Gerhardt from the Circular Valley Foundation (circular-valley.org) and founder of the Wuppertal Movement showed ways to prevent environmental pollution and explained the problems associated with composites. His foundation attracts young entrepreneurs to Circular Valley via an accelerator in Wuppertal. He invited the companies to contribute their approaches.

Martin Belz, Senior Expert at CityArc, showed what contribution landscaping can make to climate change adaptation by greening buildings. As a former senior employee of Jakob Leonhard & Söhne, he now works as a planner. He had the audience on his side when he said that he learned the most beautiful profession in the world 40 years ago and has lost none of his enthusiasm for it since then. He showed great inner-city green projects - including the Kö-Bogen with its 30,000 hornbeams. In terms of leaf mass, that would be 80 old trees.

Belz also explained how greenery can have a very practical effect and lower the inner-city temperature. Early involvement in the construction process and the increasing appreciation of landscape gardening services are advantageous for the industry. At the same time, Beltz called for more professionalism and well-trained staff. He was met with great applause.

Prof. Dr. Michael Braungart, sustainability pioneer and developer of the Cradle to Cradle concept, concluded the event. His aim was to highlight opportunities for innovation in gardening and landscaping. Braungart is convinced that the future of horticulture has only just begun. "You can only be climate neutral if they are not there," he explained to the audience. "Let's not be climate neutral, let's be climate positive." There are simply too many of us for "less bad".

Braungart advised us to complain less and finally do something - and for the industry to use more plants. His plea is not to sell products, but services - in other words, temporary product use; usufruct. At the same time, he said, the industry should also get involved beyond its own borders to bring about change.