Metropolitan Tree Growers Pty Ltd has been established using environmentally-sustainable practices. Preliminary meetings have been held with Eco-recycle Victoria and we will endeavour to reach accreditation in 2008. Our aim is to reduce the ecological impact of our business on the environment and recover renewable resources from our nursery operation rather than them reaching landfill.

We were spurred on to become more environmentally aware when we decided to add the Victoria Harbour (Harbour Green) site to our operation. The Lend Lease Corporation and the Docklands Authority insisted that we develop a site environmental master plan and adhere to it. This master plan required us to develop a nursery that did not produce any significant pollution or waste. We found that most of our practices were already acceptable to the Environmental Protection Agency, and we have reformed any practices that could cause pollution.

High Nutrient Water Reclamation

At our Alphington Nursery, Metropolitan Tree Growers collects nutrient rich runoff water from scheduled irrigation and the first 5 minutes of a major rainfall event "first flush". This water is pumped from individual box culverts using low voltage submersible pumps to environmental containment areas surrounding the nursery boundary.

Our Victoria Harbour nursery has both the Yarra River and Victoria Harbour as its boundaries, requiring careful containment and management of high nutrient leachate. A water reticulation system has been installed to insure that there will be no runoff into the surrounding waterways. Three 30,000 litre tanks are being used to collect the water. Runoff water is collected in a pit fed by site drainage and is transferred to the first holding tank by two submersible pumps. These pumps are capable of relieving approximately 2.0L/second each and are controlled by a panel incorporating both audible and visual high-level alarm if pump failure occurs (pumps operate independently for the possibility of single pump failure). Untreated water is transferred from the holding tank to storage tanks (2 x 30,000 litres) via an adjustable level float switch. When transferred to the second tank, the water is filtered and treated before being re-used in nursery irrigations.

Green Waste Recycling

We endeavour to recycle the majority of the green waste produced at both sites. Waste from our Victoria Harbour nursery is generally transferred to Alphington. All of the small green leaf matter at Alphington is used on garden beds surrounding the nursery with larger branches collected, mulched and similarly placed. Waste soil rootballs and potting mix are generally collected and used in garden bed construction on the Alphington site or provided free of charge to local residents for garden use.

Plastic pot recycling

Rather than have our pots go to landfill we ask that our customers place them to one side for us to collect. On collection we clean the pots using high pressure water and re-treat with SpinOut™. In some cases the pots can be reused twice before they deteriorate from ultra violet light and wear. The re-use of our plant containers is a significant reduction in waste heading to landfill.

Currently the recycling industry will not reclaim plastic pots from the landscape industry due to the high cost of removing the surface sand and bark contaminants that interfere with the recycling machinery.

Recycled wooden planter boxes

Our super advanced stock is grown in large onion boxes no longer required in the vegetable industry. We project that they will be valuable for one production use. We recommend once planted that the boxes be broken down and recycled by our customers as firewood or chipped and used as mulch.

Herbicides/pesticides

Very limited quantities of these products are used in our nursery production. Two horticultural chemicals (herbicides), are used in the routine production of our trees: RoundUp® is a knockdown herbicide which breaks down completely in normal ultra violet light levels within hours; Rout® is another residual herbicide which may be used on container surfaces to prevent weed seed germination.

Few-to-no pesticides are used in this nursery, but depending on future pest infestation, the following pesticides may be applied using AVCA guidelines: Fungex® - a fungicide with extremely low (human, fish and other fauna) toxicity; Pyrethroides - analogues of naturally-produced pyrethrum, as insecticides, with low toxicity; Sulphur (or Lime Sulphur) - used to control mite infestations in Australian plants, having extremely low toxicity or danger in any way.