VD PLANT

VD PLANT THRIVES IN BELGIUM AND PORTUGAL

Single-handedly, Guy Van Deuren laid the solid foundation for his nursery in lavender, Mandevilla and dianthus. Being at the start of a natural process and seeing the cuttings of his plants grow day after day remains wonderful for him. He therefore lovingly divides his time between Retie, Belgium, and the Portuguese Algarve, passionately talking about his business, his collaboration with Container Centralen and their shared vision of sustainability.

“In 2006, I felt the time was right to translate all the experience I had gained in the flower and plant industry into my own business. Under the name VD Plant, I started a nursery greenhouse in Retie, entirely under my own steam, as well as a nursery in Portugal. Initially small-scale, but in the meantime, we have grown along with the market and in total some 15 people work in my company. I very consciously specialized in three types of attractive pot and patio plants, which increases efficiency and ensures that we now have a lot of knowledge about nutrition, disease control, care, and propagation. For me, it remains beautiful every day to see how the cuttings we plant grow into a beautiful addition to our customers’ terraces or gardens.”

We make the most of the sun
“Winters in the Algarve are sunny and mild, ideal for growing our early flowering garden plants. That is why I chose this location in Portugal very consciously. We can grow everything in natural conditions, without having to use heating or artificial light. Our way of working often puts us ahead of the market and allows us to distinguish ourselves well. To guarantee the quality of our plants, they are grown entirely under our own management, from initial propagation with the smallest cutting to growing them in a larger pot. Our customers are mainly located in the Benelux countries, Germany, France, England and Switzerland. With the Belgian branch, we are very centrally located, allowing us to guarantee short delivery times. To transport CC containers and shelves to our Portuguese site, we use the loading service of Container Centralen in Hazerswoude. This works extremely pleasant and efficient; we can shorten our requirements a week in advance. As a result, loading takes place optimally so that we can use 100% of capacity. That is ideal!” Growing with the wind. Although the current energy crisis hardly weighs on our business, and we obviously do notice the effects of the war and rising inflation, consumers are a bit more cautious in their spending, which adds some pressure on our sales. On the other hand, we also notice that our plants offer people some brightness and colour in an easy and affordable way. The fact that we, VD Plant, can contribute to this makes us enormously proud.

Everyone must do their bit
“The market, especially the garden center sector in which most of our customers are located, demands sustainable products and production. And of course, this is important to me. I think everyone should do his or her bit for a better world for the future. By having our production process in Portugal, we use only natural energy sources, which helps tremendously with our sustainable vision. And it also helps us in the current energy crisis, I say honestly, that we can keep heating costs low.

By working with Container Centralen, we have made real progress in our sustainability vision. We are convinced reusable and exchangeable transport items which you can rent for a long time really contribute to sustainable logistics. Our need for CC containers grows year after year, so it is very nice to have found a partner in Container Centralen that recognizes our sustainable needs and supports us very with its CC materials and can keep up with us in our growth.

We can also now double load our trucks, with 60 instead of the previous 30 CC shelves stacked on a CC container. This saves us one truck per transport. Meaning less CO2 emissions, which again contributes to a better environment. Just like our use of Pöppelmann pots, which consist of 80% recycled plastic, and the trays we use, which are made of plastic from old refrigerators. In addition, our potting soil consists partly of composted material and wood chips. We are always looking for collaborations that strengthen us and our sustainable view of business!