As a registered charity, our shows provide a vital source of revenue so the RHS can continue to inspire everyone to become gardeners and explain the benefits it can bring to people and the planet. We believe having a platform to educate and inform the millions of people who visit our shows, or tune in to the BBC coverage, justifies putting on the events each year. The shows also give the horticultural industry, which will be worth £42 billion to the UK economy within the next 10 years, an essential boost for business.
As part of the
RHS Sustainability Strategy and Planet-Friendly Gardening Campaign we are committed to improving our sustainability practice and have established an internal Shows Sustainability Working Group. Since 2018, our Shows team have been working with
A Greener Festival, which helps event organisers to be more environmentally sustainable. In 2021 we launched the RHS Sustainability Strategy, with a target to be net positive for nature and people by 2030, and the shows play a big part in this.
What we are doing now and
our future targets:
Plastic and other materials
We are working alongside our exhibitors, partners and contractors to attempt to remove all unnecessary single use plastics from our operations for 2023 and back of house by 2025.
From 2022 we have banned the use of plastic carrier bags at all our shows.
We restrict the use of certain materials by contractors and exhibitors such as floral foam, and from 2022, plastic and artificial grass and flowers are banned entirely.
Over the next couple of years we will work with our stakeholders to further reduce the use of virgin materials, in particular timber (which has to be FSC certified), plastic and concrete, in favour of recycled and environmentally-friendly alternatives.
We use canned water in a number of units, and all water bottles that are plastic are made from recycled material.
Visitors, exhibitors and contractors are encouraged to use reusable bottles and to fill up from our drinking water stations.
Recycling and waste
We are working to provide better waste separation at our shows to improve the quantity of high-grade recycling that we are able to achieve.
We hope our increased focus on reuse and recycling will enable us to reduce total waste produced onsite by a further 5% annually.
At RHS Chelsea and RHS Hampton Court we work with
City Harvest to redistribute food waste to charities across Greater London.
Show gardens are encouraged to live on beyond the shows, with many relocated in their entirety, or plants and materials donated to various projects making new homes for wildlife and benefitting individuals and local communities across the UK.
Where living on is not possible for gardens or installations, we work with a reuse partner,
House of Wayward, to rehome any remaining plants and some hard landscaping material. In 2023, 5,500 plants, 5 trees, 12 saplings, 22 shrubs and 7 tonnes of gravel and soil from RHS Chelsea were donated to 77 schools and gardens. From RHS Hampton Court around 5,100 plants, 4 trees, 8 saplings, 12 shrubs and 4 tonnes of gravel and soil went to 61 community projects and schools.
Energy and water
Due to the nature of the greenfield sites on which we operate, we have to use generators for our power supply. In 2021, we switched to biofuel generators which significantly reduced our carbon emissions, saving over 200,000kg of CO
2 across all of our shows. RHS Chelsea’s mains power is also supplied from renewable energy sources; we are looking at ways to increase our substation capacity to run even more of the show from this, reducing our need for generators.
We have switched all lights to LED and we will continue to monitor power usage onsite and encourage exhibitors to reduce power use where possible.
At RHS Chelsea and RHS Hampton Court we have upgraded the majority of our toilets to vacuum systems that reduce water use by up to 90%. At RHS Chelsea we also use a borehole to supply water to all our toilets and for garden watering to reduce reliance on mains water.
Travel and vehicles
In the RHS Sustainability Strategy, we set a goal of becoming climate positive by 2030. We are committed to reducing our CO
2 emissions by providing sustainable travel options and access to our shows.
With the transport sector being the biggest emitter of greenhouse gases in the UK, and its biggest contributor being cars, we are working to promote greener modes of transport to our shows and hoping to be able to provide more green transport options in the future. To help achieve this, we have appointed a Sustainable Travel Executive to liaise with public transport providers and identify active travel options.
We switched all of our site utility vehicles to electric in 2022 and are actively looking into how we can switch to electric plant machinery.
Exhibitors and suppliers
We ask exhibitors at application stage where their plants are sourced, what materials they’re using and whether their garden will live on. Their environmental credentials are extremely important and if we have concerns we would decline their application.
From 2023, we introduced robust criteria for garden applications to ensure they are making every effort they can to create sustainable designs and if needed, we will offer guidance to applicants on cost neutral solutions. All RHS Chelsea Gardens have gone through the new Green Garden Audit, which has helped further identify the carbon footprint of the garden, and also encouraged designers and contractors to redesign and plan elements to lessen the impact their gardens have on the environment.
We restrict the use of certain materials by contractors and exhibitors such as floral foam. Plastic and artificial grass and flowers are banned entirely.
We only procure goods and services from responsible suppliers who share our sustainability aims. Our selected caterers locally source their ingredients, only use recyclable packaging, minimise their waste and keep water use to a minimum. From 2024, 50% of the Shows catering will be plant-based.
Peat
We require exhibitors and designers not to use peat on the mulching and dressing of beds. Many exhibitors have made the switch to peat-free growing already, while others are currently trialling growing their plants in peat-free media.
Read more about the RHS peat policy.
We aim to be completely peat-free across all of our operations by 2025 where our suppliers, designers and exhibitors will be asked to confirm that their plants will be peat-free and environmental horticultural scientists from the RHS will work closely with them during show builds.
For exhibitors
- The peat ban only applies to plants a nursery wants to sell at RHS events.
- All potting operations for show-grown plants must be peat-free after 1 Jan 2026.
- Plug plants or progation materials purchased in 2026 must be peat-free.
- Legacy Peat includes any peat that’s already in a nursery’s production system up to 31 Dec 2025, or been used in plug plants in 2025.
Biosecurity
We have worked with industry to improve plant health and biosecurity awareness and measures across all of our shows and regularly review our policies to minimise any risk of spreading plant pests and diseases.
We offer training in RHS plant health policies and good biosecurity practices to all of our show exhibitors.
RHS biosecurity staff together with the government’s Animal and Plant Health Agency attend the shows to check that all plants brought in are healthy and adhere to the policies. We also ask all visitors not to bring any plants or samples to the shows to avoid contamination.
