Cha-ching! (3-1)

Altum’s in Zionsville, Ind., has a rich, 50-year history, a solid bond with its customer base, and a new home. Lately, it also has begun to leave a legacy as a business that does more than pay lip service to eco-friendly practices.

The garden center urges customers who visit the store to bring their empty plastic pots along for the ride. Then they can simply drop them in the garden center’s DROP-YOUR-POTS ZONE—designed in partnership with Indianapolis Recycled Fiber—thus ensuring the containers will be reused in some form in the future  

"The garden-center industry produces so much plastic that we all should be more active in taking our waste out of the landfills," said owner Dana Altum. "We continually are filling these semi-trailer containers full of plastic flats and pots from within our own walls, not counting what customers bring back to us. It’s so easy to park one of these 'very unattractive' collection trailers in the back that will make a difference to the environment in the long run."

So, you might wonder, how is the practice being received?

"Customers really appreciate this service," Altum said. And you know what appreciative customers do: They come back to the store. Cha-ching!

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