What is Foam-Free?
And why you should be asking your florist about it
FOAM.
It’s a dirty word in my world. I used it many, many, many times in my career. Heck, when “back in my day” when I was working in retail shops, we ordered that stuff in by the boat load! I’ve used it for sympathy work, wedding work, holiday centerpieces, and probably more than I can remember. It was the perfect solution for wedding arbors, and kissing balls… Yes I realize I’m dating myself admitting I’ve made those…
But what is the cost of this convenience? What is the environmental impact? As our world begins to suffer from the trash our species continues to add to it, what can we do to prevent more toxic waste that our children will be responsible for dealing with?
As I reopen my wedding design business, I’m taking a stand against the use of foam. I won’t take work that requires it, and I certainly hope to be a loud voice in the growing crowd against it. First lets take a look at why it’s so horrible in the first place.
According to Koch&Co floral foam is an open cell plastic, and the ingredients are:
COMPOSITION AND INFORMATION ON INGREDIENTS
Chemical Characterization: Mixtures
Description: Mixture of substances listed below with nonhazardous additions.
Hazardous Components:
50-00-0 formaldehyde <0.1%
108-95-2 phenol <0.1%
Wait…. What??? Formaldehyde is a common used chemical for everything from the fiberboard desk from your discount retailer, to a smoothing substance found in cosmetics. According to cancer.org, it has been linked to cancers where the tissue has made contact.
But what is Phenol? The CDC states:
Phenol (C6H6O or C6H5OH) is a colorless to light-pink, crystalline solid with a sweet, acrid odor. Exposure to phenol may cause irritation to the skin, eyes, nose, throat, and nervous system. Some symptoms of exposure to phenol are weight loss, weakness, exhaustion, muscle aches, and pain. Severe exposure can cause liver and/or kidney damage, skin burns, tremor, convulsions, and twitching. Workers may be harmed from exposure to phenol.The level of harm depends upon the dose, duration, and work being done.
This explains why the safety sheet for floral foam states you should wear a mask when working with the material. I don’t know about you, but I sure don’t see m(any?) designers on social media using a mask when they are making their reels to show their wedding arbors, or Harlow stands…..
Now that we know it’s impact on the folks working with it, what about the secondary impact on the environment?
To use floral foam, a designer must first soak it in water. Okay, brick soaked, and now they are inserting all the stems. But what about all those tiny particles left in the water? Where do those go? Likely down the drain.
(Image sourced online….. no way you’ll catch me using this stuff!)
Check out how green the ‘soaked’ water is….. That’s thousands of plastic, toxic particles waiting to poison our environment!
Since foam is an open cell plastic, that’s thousands of pieces of micro plastics that are being put into our waterways, and soil. We already have micro plastics in our oceans due to our society’s never ending consumption of plastics, and this is yet another source. Not to mention, foam is almost always used as a one time mechanic. After the wedding is done, what happens to all that foam? It goes right in the trash, leading to even MORE toxic waste.
I simply cannot stress enough how completely, inexcusably, unsustainable this stuff is!
So how do we prevent this? First, talk to your florist. Ask them about their foam use. Ask them if they have tried using something else.
There are other options. Most #foamfree designers will use chicken wire. This does often require the use of tape, zip ties, or fishing line, which are still plastic waste items.
In the above compote, I was able to just use chicken wire, but for a wedding, I would probably need to tape it in due to shifting concerns during transport.
Here, I’m covering up this plain old photo backdrop top pole. This is simply chicken wire fastened to itself by folding over, and tucking the ends on the backside. It this was an outdoor installation, I would have needed to use zip ties to secure the chicken wire, and assure the wind didn’t roll the installation around.
Lots of stems helped cover up that pipe, and in reality, I would normally use many more, but frankly ran out for this demo.
There are also new options that mimic floral foam, specifically Agra Wool, Oshun Pouch. These make fantastic alternatives for installations that require a water source (I’m looking at you hydrangeas), or as an alternative to chicken wire commonly used for centerpieces.
Ask your florist if they will use these products, or at a minimum chicken wire. By foregoing traditional green floral foam, you should expect an increase in cost, but in my opinion, that’s our responsibility as the current users and consumers in the industry.