Sustainability and Material Health

At Garden on the Wall®, we are committed to sustainability without compromise, or greenwashing. We offer wayfinding for mindful sourcing of preserved moss walls, preserved foliage gardens and planter inserts.

Buzz Words, or the Words to Live By?

Sustainability, Material Health, and Occupant Health are not just trendy words - they're the guiding principles to creating a world where we can thrive now and in the future. By focusing on these principles, we're ensuring our resources last, products we use are safe, our buildings support health, and promote well-being and happiness. So, what do these concepts truly mean?

Sustainability

Sustainability is the practice of meeting our current needs without compromising the ability of future generations to meet theirs. It requires integrating environmental considerations with social and economic factors to ensure long-term well-being for both humanity and the planet.

Material Health

Material health focuses on the safety and environmental impact of substances used in products. It involves scrutinizing the entire lifecycle of materials, from extraction & manufacturing to use & disposal, to ensure they pose no significant health or ecological risks.

Occupant Health

Occupant health is about keeping people healthy in buildings where they live, work, heal, entertain, or study. It involves designing and maintaining spaces that mitigate health risks, enhance comfort, and foster productivity through careful consideration of environmental factors and human-centered design principles.

Preserved Garden Installations:
A Greener & More Sustainable Choice

Need to choose Living Walls, Faux Plants, or Preserved Gardens? Discover the long-term benefits of preserved garden installations for the environment. With no water or energy requirements for maintenance, these garden installations provide sustainable solution for designers who wants to incorporate biophilia in their designed spaces, without added carbon footprint or introduction of non-degradable synthetic materials leaching chemicals to environment.

No Natural Resources Wasted

No Water. No soil.

No Energy Wasted

No light. No maintenance.

Oxymoron: The Faux Greenery

Why Faux Greenery is an Oxymoron concept for Sustainability & Green Future.

Read More

Wayfinding to Avoid Greenwashing:
Not All Preserved Gardens Are Equal

Preserved gardens are an important element of biophilic design. However, even biophilic design elements could fall short if the materials used and processes followed in these installations do not support the health and sustainability claims.

Offering sustainability / materiality reports without third-party testing or credentialing system compliance would only lead to greenwashing. Unless there is a third-party party testing showing the transparency, health, and well-being credentials of the whole garden construct, making attributions to ASTM or ISO numbers of moss or plants with no test results would only mean Greenwashing for Moss Walls. This includes the third-party testing of one single ingredient of a preserved garden, rather than the whole garden system. Only third-party tests for all garden elements brought to the installation site prove the companies' health and sustainability claims. 

It's a Material Thing

The choice of materials plays a powerful role in improving occupant well-being. Ensuring confidence in material safety & health and occupant welfare through third-party certifications is particularly important in the preserved garden field, given the many variables involved in the preservation, fabrication, and installation processes of these gardens.

Sustainability Standards, 3rd Party Tests & Building Rating Systems Compliance to Look for at Providers

Preserved garden and preserved moss wall providers, like any other building or interior finishes manufacturers, have a responsibility to demonstrate their commitment to ethical, social, environmental, and safety practices to the public. Alignment with sustainability, safety, health, and well-being should not be mere talking points, but should be the main focus for the operations for all suppliers.

ASTM E-84
HPD (Health Product Declaration)
California Department of Public Health's VOC Standards
Bio-Based Test (ASTM 6866)
Red List Free
Declare Label
Mindful Materials Database
Sustainable Minds Transparency Catalog
WELL
Fitwel
BREEAM

Garden on the Wall® set the Gold Standards in preserved greenery field, being in compliance with all the credentials and rating systems listed above.

GOTW’s Commitment to Circular Economy

At Garden on the Wall®, we are dedicated to implementing Circular Economy principles in all aspects of our business. We believe in minimizing waste, maximizing resource efficiency, reducing contribution to landfill, promoting take-back, re-cycle, re-purpose, and composting programs to champion our planet in every way possible. By being committed to Circular Economy, we are not only reducing our environmental impact and carbon footprint, but also, we are creating a more sustainable future for our planet and entire humanity.

Our Circular Economy
Initiatives

We have implemented various initiatives to support the circular economy.

Sustainable Material 

Sourcing & Composting

Garden on the Wall® prioritize sourcing preserved moss and plants that are grown and harvested sustainably, and environmental-friendly. We also have an extensive composting program to ensure we do not contribute organic matter/methane to Landfill to reduce the heating effect.

Take-Back, Re-Cycle and
Re-Purpose  

We are committed to taking back our garden panels at the end of their life to turn them into new garden panels and we also re-purpose our trade show gardens as donation gardens to find a new life at healthcare institutions where they’re needed most.