Flowercyclists rescuing Christmas flowers from waste

During the Christmas season, florists in Japan offer a wide range of flowers such as red roses and poinsettia. However, large quantities of unsold Christmas flowers are disposed when 26th December arrives.

Haruka Kawashima, Flowercyclist and owner of RIN Inc witnessed this phenomenon working part-time at a florist. Once Christmas was over, a bag of over 300 stalks of roses was marked and dumped as trash. Kawashima felt that the flowers were still beautiful and precious; hence, she brought all of them home. That incident made her realize that something needs to be done.

The term Flowercyclists was coined to describe people who give new life to unwanted flowers through upcycling.

An estimate of 30 to 50 percent of flowers at flower shops end up as waste. In response to that, Kawashima led a campaign to manage this problem. During the last few weeks of December in 2019, flower shops, wedding venues, department stores, hotels and restaurants located in Tokyo were approached to sell their unwanted flowers to Flowercyclists at RIN Inc. These flowers are then made into dry flowers for sale.

Other than contributing to a circular economy, the upcycling of flowers is also one way to achieve responsible consumption and production, as reflected in one of the SDG (Sustainable Development Goals). Listed as Goal 12, it emphasizes the importance of reducing our ecological footprint. We can do this by amending the way we consume and produce through the effective management of shared resources. And it is vital for us to achieve sustainable patterns of consumption by 2030.

The vision of RIN Inc is to give new life to the flower industry. Kawashima hopes to reduce flower waste, reduce the distribution price of flowers and encourage people to cultivate a lifestyle with flowers. She aims to achieve zero flower waste some day.

Kawashima also sells apparel and accessories made from upcycled flowers and offers the flower decoration services for events and spaces. More information about her works and services can be found on her official website and Instagram account (both in Japanese only).