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Amberol’s Talking Penguin Litter Bin Goes to a Premier

admin — Wed, 23 Nov 2011 20:28:54 +0000

Percy Penguin was invited to a film premier.

Find out more about Amberol's range of bins.

Amberol Brings Feel Good Factor to Birmingham

admin — Tue, 08 Nov 2011 11:39:47 +0000

The city of Birmingham is a busy urban community which has a rising population of over one million, with one third of the populace belonging to an ethnic group other than white. As the nation’s second largest city, Birmingham Parks and Nurseries DSO has a substantial task on its hands creating and maintaining attractive horticultural displays in communal areas, as well as undertaking grounds maintenance and floral enhancement within parks and other areas of the city.

The city has five premier parks with the largest, Sutton Park National Nature Reserve, covering a total of 2,400 acres. Birmingham Parks and Nurseries DSO consists of approximately 140 staff employed in a range of roles. A long term commitment Birmingham City Council has used Amberol products for many years as part of its ongoing commitment to the importance of communal landscaping, and the two organisations have forged a good long term professional relationship. Birmingham Parks use a range of different Amberol products to create varied and attractive floral displays.

Popular choices include the economical self watering large and small hanging baskets, window boxes, barrier boxes and various free standing containers which are placed at different locations all around the city. Reflecting their commitment to the part that floral displays can play in developing a sense of ownership and civic pride within the urban community, the authority has had considerable success in the prestigious ‘In Bloom awards’.

In recent years, Birmingham has been awarded goldintheurbancommunitycategoryinthe2009HeartofEnglandinBloomawards.They were also awarded a gold in 2010 in the large city category, Heart of England in Bloom. “Their products are of a simple fool proof design, well made and durable” Amberol design, manufacture and supply a range of robust horticultural products including self watering containers, planters, bins and benches.

A family run company since 1969, Amberol work closely with customers to develop products that will help to facilitate a cleaner, greener environment.

Amberol plays its part “Amberol products play a major part in all of our competition entries – and our success,” explains Tim Oakes, Operations Manager of Birmingham Parks and Nurseries DSO. “Their products are of a simple fool proof design, well made and durable. Unlike other similar products that I have come across, they also have ample room within the container for a good root run which is so important in establishing hardy, flourishing displays.”

Tim explains how Amberol’s self watering containers also help the department make considerable savings by conserving both water consumption and the staff time required for maintenance. “With the use of Amberol’s special self watering system we are able to manage with two visits a week by our watering crews in most summers. This would compare to daily visits required for other non reservoir types of containers.

Three words that Birmingham Parks and Nurseries use to describe Amberol products:

1. Reliable
2. Effective
3. Efficient

Related: See Amberol's range of industrial bins…

Talking bins help schools to reduce litter in the playground

admin — Wed, 12 Oct 2011 11:16:44 +0000

Talking rubbish bins are being installed in schools and nurseries across the UK to encourage children to dispose of their litter properly. The bins, which have been developed by British company Amberol (www.amberol.co.uk), can be programmed to respond with a message every time litter is put into them.

Greetings can be selected from a pre-programmed range and include messages such as “Yum yum feed me more”, “That’s the best meal I’ve had today” and “Thanks for your litter; I do like being fed by you.” Schools and organisations can also customise their own personal greetings. The messages are recorded on a sound card which is triggered by light sensors.

“The bins have already proven popular in schools across the UK, with children of all ages far more eager to deposit their litter in the bins,” explains John Williamson, Amberol’s Marketing Manager. “We have received great feedback, with headteachers and staff reporting a substantial reduction in litter. We hope that using these bins will develop good habits that will last a lifetime.” The company also installed bins in every junior school in Liverpool in 2008 as part of an initiative to educate children about reducing litter.

The bins come in various different designs including parrots, robins and chicks as well as the Amberol bear, known as Ambere, which has a maximum capacity of 180 litres and Percy Penguin which has a capacity of 90 litres. Made from recyclable polyethylene, the bins have a lock and key for security.

“Similar initiatives in places such as Sweden have shown how small rewards and positive messages, combined with the novelty factor can all encourage higher usage of the bins,” explains John. “We feel that it is important to educate children from a young age about the importance of keeping their environment tidy and litter free.”

The range is about to be extended by the addition of talking bins which include celebrity voices and novelty messages placed at tourist spots around Liverpool city centre including outside the Cavern nightclub, made famous by its association with the Beatles. The bins are being installed as part of the Love Where You Live campaign organised by Keep Britain Tidy.

An estimated 30 million tonnes of litter is collected from the streets of Britain each year at a cost of £858 million in council tax. According to the Land Environmental Quality Survey of England (LEQSE), the litter hotpots include areas of high density housing as well as retail areas and public open spaces.

For more information about Amberol’s range of talking bins visit www.amberol.co.uk.

UK’s first singing rubbish bins supplied by Derbyshire company

admin — Wed, 12 Oct 2011 11:12:20 +0000

The UK’s first singing rubbish bins, which are being installed on the streets of Liverpool this week (13th October), were made right here in Derbyshire. Alfreton based company Amberol supplied the bins, which feature the voice of Mike McCartney, formerly of The Scaffold, as part of a nationwide initiative to clean up Britain’s city streets.

Anyone who deposits litter in the Amberol bins will hear Mike singing his 1967 hit ‘Thank you very much….for binning your litter’. The singing bins, which will play three different versions of the message, will be positioned on Liverpool’s Matthew Street, including one opposite The Cavern. Each bin has a sound card installed which is triggered by motion sensors inside the bins.

“We have already installed around 1,000 talking bins in schools across the UK, including one in every junior school in Liverpool,” explains Amberol’s Marketing Manager John Williamson. “The schools initiative has been hugely successful, so it seemed logical to roll the idea out into the wider community. The novelty element, combined with the reward of being thanked, has proven to be a powerful motivation.”

Following on from the success of a similar programme in Sweden, the talking bins initiative has been organised as part of the Love Where You Live campaign run by the charity Keep Britain Tidy and was proposed by City Central BID, the first commercial ambassador of Love Where You Live.

Keep Britain Tidy celebrity ambassador Kirstie Allsopp is backing the campaign 100%. “These bins will hopefully bring a smile to people’s faces and encourage them to do the right thing,” she comments. “By taking small actions, like putting our rubbish in a bin, we can make a big difference and tackle the problem of litter that blights our beautiful country.”

An estimated 30 million tonnes of litter is collected from the streets of Britain each year at a cost of £858 million in council tax. According to the Land Environmental Quality Survey of England (LEQSE), the litter hotpots include commercial and retail areas as well as public open spaces.

Set up in 1969, Amberol is a family run company that supplies councils, businesses, schools and individuals with a range of outdoor equipment including self watering planters, recycling bins and benches. For more information about Amberol’s range of bins, talking or silent, visit www.amberol.co.uk.

Amberol exports self watering containers to India

admin — Thu, 18 Aug 2011 15:38:23 +0000

Amberol has just won its second large export order to India. Whilst many companies are fighting cheap imports from Asian countries to the UK, Derbyshire company Amberol is exporting a range of its horticultural products to an importer based in New Delhi.

Amberol supply a range of containers, including their popular self watering planters, to councils, schools and businesses, as well as the general public. The importer, Mr Mann was visiting the UK when he saw some Amberol barrier baskets in Stafford town centre. “Mr Mann was impressed by the displays and the containers that he saw when visiting the town,” explains Amberol’s Marketing Manager John Williamson. “He took the company’s contact details off the sticker and got in touch. Having visited our factory and offices in Derbyshire, he placed his first order last year and these products have been so successful that he has just taken delivery of a second container load.”

A range of Amberol’s floor standing products including large beehive planters, squares, octagons, promenades and giant planters have been exported as well as a selection of hanging baskets and up the pole baskets for aerial planting. “Our self watering range has also proven very popular in the diverse Indian climate,” adds John “As in the UK, they are used for both internal and external displays because they save water by minimising evaporation and reduce maintenance costs. I’m also told that the granite and sandstone colours look great in the intense light of India.”

Amberol’s self watering products use the company’s unique Aquafeed matting and wicking system. Each planter has a built in water reservoir with a series of high capacity capillaries to ‘suck’ up water which is then dispersed via an expander pad. The reservoir only needs to be topped up twice a week even in hot dry conditions and because the water is stored underneath the soil, it doesn’t evaporate.

Amberol are continuing their global expansion by shipping a second order of containers to the USA this month.

Amberol Video From Chelsea Flower Show

admin — Fri, 03 Jun 2011 10:34:31 +0000

We thought you'd enjoy our video taken at the world-renowned Chelsea Flower show:

Birmingham City Council’s gorilla garden wins silver at Chelsea

admin — Tue, 31 May 2011 13:57:53 +0000

Birmingham City Council has been awarded silver at the Chelsea Flower Show this week. The garden, which was put together on behalf of the city’s Parks and Nurseries department by Mike Hinton and team was entitled ‘The Plight of the Gorilla’ and was specifically designed to highlight the situation of these endangered animals in the Rwanda region of Central Africa.

The garden took eight days to create on site and was a centrepiece in the Grand Pavilion at the show. The exhibit consisted of a jungle scene complete with rocks, a waterfall and tropical plants – all overlooked by a large model gorilla. Plants included poinsettias and authentic African plants and shrubs. The garden also had an additional eco twist by making use of reusable plastic rocks instead of sandstone. Originally it was thought that the rocks would have to be sourced from South Africa, but the council were able to obtain realistic rocks which are moulded from the original granite specimens from one of their regular suppliers, Amberol.

John Williamson, Marketing Manager at Amberol was at Chelsea to view the finished result. “The garden looked really impressive and the general public absolutely loved it,” he commented. “People were coming up to the display and commenting how fantastic it looked – it certainly had the wow factor. We were delighted with effect that the rocks created as part of the waterfall; they looked exactly like real rocks but at a fraction of the cost, making it a real sensory experience for visitors.”

Birmingham Parks and Nurseries department creates and tends to communal displays across the city as well as maintaining Birmingham’s five premier parks including the largest, Sutton Park National Nature Reserve which covers a total of 2,400 acres.

As well as success in the Chelsea Flower Show, the authority has also won numerous awards in Britain in Bloom, including gold in 2010 in the large city category of Heart of England in Bloom.

Self Watering Containers Offer Respite from Dry April and Water Tariffs

admin — Mon, 23 May 2011 14:37:12 +0000

The low rainfall and higher than average temperatures that most of the UK has experienced so far this spring has seen the popularity of self watering containers soar. Many gardeners, grounds people and councils looking for ways to conserve water whilst preserving their floral displays are using the new generation of self watering containers which enable plants to have constant moisture as needed whilst reducing the likelihood of overwatering.

Many parts of England experienced the warmest April since 1910, with southern, central and eastern regions recording less than 10% of the usual monthly rainfall. Guy Barter, head of the Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) Advisory estimates that dry soils in many parts of the UK will need about 70 to 80mm of rain to get soil levels back to normal – well above the average rainfall of around 68mm for May.

The RHS has also produced a new report warning that excessive watering in the garden is having a significant impact on water supplies. The Society predicts that watering the nation’s gardens will account for around 9% of domestic usage by 2021, whilst water companies are investigating the possibility of introducing seasonal tariffs as a way of avoiding hosepipe bans. The new tariffs could also include financial incentives for communities who collectively reduce their water consumption. A Government White Paper on water consumption is due out by the end of 2011.

As newly planted flowers are most vulnerable to drought conditions due to their immature root systems, many landscape gardeners and parks departments are using self watering planters to protect their displays whilst conserving water and manpower at the same time.

“The containers help us to save time and money which would otherwise be spent watering the displays,” explains Glenn Springthorpe, Nursery Manager at Nottingham City Council. “The water reservoirs ensure that we can maintain a high quality of floral displays in spite of extreme temperatures. In fact, some units are only watered twice a week, even in the hottest weather. They also save on water consumption when compared to normal hanging baskets.”

John Williamson, Marketing Manager at Amberol in Nottinghamshire who manufacture and supply self watering containers explains how the containers work. “At Amberol we have developed a system known as Aquafeed TM. Each planter has a built in water reservoir with a series of high capacity capillaries to ‘suck’ up the water which is then evenly dispersed via an expander pad. The reservoir needs to be topped up twice a week and because the water is stored underneath the soil, it doesn’t evaporate. Our local authority customers have reported back to us that not only does it save water because none of it is wasted as it is all used by the plants, but also staff time and costs.”

Where Have All The Flowers Gone?

admin — Mon, 11 Apr 2011 13:54:08 +0000

Are floral displays a waste of public money or an important part of community identity? John Williamson of Amberol examines the arguments for maintaining communal displays in our urban environments and looks at ways of cutting costs in these cash strapped times.

With sweeping Government cuts to essential services, it’s inevitable that the axe would eventually fall on the ‘non essential’ area of public landscaping. For those of us who work in community horticulture, the fear now is that, despite the important work done by organisations such as Britain in Bloom in raising the profile of floral and communal landscaping, without sufficient funding, our town and city centres may revert to the unattractive concrete vistas of the 1960s and 70s.

Despite the general economic gloom, Britain in Bloom has become a real mark of civic pride, and receives around 1,000 entries annually from communities of varying sizes and demographics. The fact that the competition has become so universally well known supports the argument that a community’s physical environment has a significant impact on both the local residents and the local economy. Certainly, those whom we work with in parks departments across the UK feel that the effort that they put into creating attractive floral displays is more than repaid by the beneficial effects that it has for residents, visitors and businesses.

Creating a positive community impact

One example of an urban environment using communal landscaping to positive effect is Nottingham. The city has had considerable success in Britain in Bloom, winning the national competition in their category four times and achieving Britain in Bloom ‘Champion of Champions’ in 2008. As Caroline Elmhirst, Nottingham in Bloom Partnership Manager explains, “The benefits of good floral displays are multitude – as well as helping the city to gain prestige and enhanced reputation through external competitions such as Britain in Bloom, they bring a real ‘feel good factor’ to the city. Floral displays help communicate the whole cultural ‘offer’ that Nottingham can provide for its visitors, residents and workers by creating an attractive, pleasing environment that people want to visit.”

This sentiment is echoed by Tim Oakes, Operations Manager of Birmingham Parks and Nurseries Department which was instrumental in the city’s gold award in the large city category for the Heart of England in Bloom in 2010. “We supply floral enhancement to several business improvement districts within the city,” explains Tim. “They all report that footfall increases when the area ‘feels good’. In this way we believe that floral displays are critical to the city.”

Flower power in action

A case in point underlining the importance of floral displays in the urban environment can be found at Greater Manchester’s Central Estate which had many of the social problems associated with inner city housing estates. However, a group of residents were determined to restore pride in their neighbourhood and set about transforming the estate with help from the

New Charter Housing Trust Group who purchased 250 self watering plant pots, complete with flowers to bring some colour in to the area. Maintenance was an issue, but because the containers used were self watering, they were easier for residents to care for, requiring less watering whilst removing the possibility of overwatering.

By creating barrier flower beds along the balconies and walkways of the low rise flat blocks, not only did the estate look better from within, but also to the outside world, restoring a sense of pride for residents. The whole project created a real sense of ownership, giving people a reason to speak to their neighbours whilst crime and anti-social behaviour steadily declined.

Cutting costs not greenery

However, whilst few would dispute the importance of communal displays, our current era of austerity dictates that councils, businesses and other organisations are now looking for ways to maintain their public displays, but at minimal cost. The simplest and most cost effective ways to do this is through an informed choice of hardy and easy to care for plants, also addressing the issue of maintenance – after all time is money.

One strategy to tackle the maintenance problem, used by both Nottingham and Birmingham Council, as well as the Central Estate, is through the installation of self watering containers as opposed to traditional planters. “With the use of the Amberol self watering system, we manage with two visits a week by our watering crews in most summers,” explains Birmingham’s Tim Oakes. “This would compare to daily visits required for other non reservoir types of containers.”

These planters work by having a built in water reservoir with a series of capillaries to ‘suck’ up the water which is then evenly dispersed via an expander pad. This makes it impossible to overwater, and, because the water is stored below the soil, it doesn’t evaporate, no matter what the weather conditions are.

Making the right choices

Combined with a careful choice of plants, these containers can have a significant impact on cost and results as Terry Bane, Horticultural and Funding Officer for Norwich Council has discovered.

Terry and his team select their plants carefully for growth properties as well as appearance and he has some useful tips for large scale planting. “Obviously the most cost effective plants are those that last the season and don’t need replacing. It’s all about using high quality, healthy plants, suitable compost and planning a good maintenance programme, including nutrition and pest and disease control. In Norwich, we tend to use most of the summer trailing and upright favourites, such as begonias, bidens, geraniums (hybrids, ornamental foliage named varieties and ivy leaved types), as well as helichrysum, lysimachia, petunias and plectranthus. Although begonias and petunias are not the easiest to maintain, we find that these and the other varieties perform well and last throughout the season. For that reason, despite the beauty of the flower, I rarely use lobelia as it burns out quickly; instead we often use scaveolia as this plant provides attractive late flowers in either blue or pink; they are also quite fleshy plants, so tolerate the sun beating down on them. In addition, we sometimes use marigolds as fill in plants until the others develop.”

The East of England is the driest part of the UK, so Norwich has made good use of self watering containers and gives careful thought to the design and location of their award winning displays. “Ultimately the site is crucial i.e. are the containers and beds in full sun, shade or a wind tunnel? It’s imperative to listen to the staff who know the sites and get them involved with helping choose the best plants for the right location.”

To create an effective display, Terry recommends using a variety of planters to create visual impact. “We use barrier baskets on railings at traffic junctions as well as hanging baskets and floral fountains at the train station.” This strategy has obviously worked as Norwich has had great success in Britain in Bloom, winning the Urban Regeneration category in 2008 and being awarded the maximum 5 Bloom Award and Best Youth Award in the international Communities in Bloom Finals 2009.

The floral displays that enhance our landscapes, both urban and rural, help give our communities a sense of identity and pride – as well as making them more pleasant places to live, work and visit. Whilst the financing of public areas such as hospitals and schools must inevitably take priority when cash is limited, it is also important not to neglect what our environment looks like, so the challenge for the professional landscaper is undoubtedly a tough one – but one which fortunately also has viable solutions.

About the author

John Williamson is the Marketing Manager at Amberol, a family run company which supply a range of planters, self watering containers bins and benches to local authorities, schools and businesses. Amberol aim to create products that will facilitate a cleaner, greener environment. For more information about Amberol’s products have a look on our website or call 01773 830 930.

Amberol Roll Out The Barrel To Save Water This Summer

admin — Mon, 11 Apr 2011 13:51:19 +0000

Amberol have unveiled their latest self watering product, the ‘Ambarrel’. It is an environmentally friendly self watering container that makes it impossible to over water bedding plants..

Two years in development and testing, the ‘Ambarrel’ is a replica barrel made from strengthened polyethylene to ensure durability. It is molded into a traditional half barrel shape mmeasuring 44cms high with a 59m diameter. The planter holds 78 litres of compost, making it ideal for both bedding plants and larger perennials. The hollow container has an interior membrane with a reservoir which can hold up to 20 litres of water. This means that if the reservoir is topped up just twice a week, the plants receive continual moisture using the aquafeed self watering system which was specially developed by Amberol.

The aquafeed system consists of a series of high capacity capillary action wicks that ‘suck’ water up from the storage chamber onto an expander pad. This then disperses the water evenly, releasing the vital nutrients in the soil base.

“Because our self watering products make it easy to create stunning displays using containers with minimum input, they are popular with councils, businesses and Britain in Bloom groups across the UK,” explains Amberol’s Marketing Manager John Williamson. “Not only does it take less than half the time to water, it also ensures healthier plants as they cannot be over watered and if properly maintained they have a more even supply of water reaching the plants.”

During trials of the product, it received a very positive response from the Britain in Bloom campaign. “Several test groups that we have shown the ‘Ambarrel’ to have already placed orders,” explains John. For more details see elsewhere on this site or call 01773 830 930.