Australia’s only certified carbon-neutral garden-care provider, Eco-Green Garden Care, chooses STIHL products to meet its environmental goals, while still delivering the performance a professional needs.
Eco-Green Garden Care is a Melbourne-based premium garden-care service with a client list of private owners, corporations and commercial operations. The company’s commitment to environmental sustainability is highlighted by it being Australia’s first carbon-neutral gardening-service provider.
In addition to carbon-neutral certification, Eco-Green’s commitment to carbon reductions has led to utilising a full range of zero-emissions STIHL tools, and all charging is done from renewable energy sources. Even the company’s drive fleet has begun moving to EVs.
And it’s not just the equipment which is selected and managed with a neutral-carbon footprint in mind. Organic gardening practices are used to reduce soil and water pollution and low-noise tools and equipment are favoured where possible to minimise noise pollution.
STIHL from the start
Steering the growth of this environmental pace setter is founder and owner, Stuart Griffiths.
A redundancy around six years ago left Stuart with some choices to make, and, having a love of gardening and a passion for sustainability, the decision wasn’t too difficult.
“I saw an opportunity to go out and do something I enjoy, and potentially work towards making a difference in the industry in the process.” smiled the happy Victorian. “I haven’t looked back since.”
STIHL has been Stuart’s favoured equipment brand since the very start.
“I started off using STIHL’s internalcombustion equipment and then shifted over to the battery technology,” he related. “We use mowers, brushcutters, hedgers, pole trimmers, standard hedgers, telescopic hedgers, blowers…they’re all battery.
“When I started the business, STIHL had the big reputation for reliability and performance, and I established a really good relationship with my STIHL dealer. He looks after me – because this is the thing: it’s not just about the products themselves. It’s about the support and the relationship with the dealer.”
The move to battery
Moving from internal combustion engines to battery power turned out to be not as difficult as some might think.
“It was great,” beamed Stuart. “I wouldn’t look back.”
“It wasn’t an insignificant up-front investment. The tools are probably comparable in price to the two-stroke options, but then you have to buy batteries and chargers. But, even considering that – and we run a battery-powered Transit van as well – compared to our operations before going battery, we’re probably saving around $400 to $500 each month in fuel.
“Aside from that, the tools are more reliable. There’s less downtime and less servicing costs. In three or four years of running battery I think I’ve had one breakdown, as opposed to the two years before that where I had to take my twostrokes in for issues a couple of times a year.
“STIHL battery tools are nicer to use, and they’re quiet. I hate wearing earmuffs when it’s 35 degrees, and with battery gear I don’t need to.
“And I’ve got clients I’ve picked up because of the battery gear! They appreciate the low noise, they appreciate the fact they’re sustainable, and they appreciate the fact that they don’t have fumes.”
So for Stuart, the move to battery made good economic and environmental sense.
But it didn’t stop there.
“And the other thing is,” he continued, “as part of our carbon-neutral certification we actually calculate our carbon emission at the end of each financial year, and from FY21 to FY23 we grew from a one-man operation to effectively a three-man operation, but over the same time we reduced our carbon emissions by about 23 per cent. “It makes a genuine difference in sustainability.”
All positive
For Stuart and Eco-Green Garden Care, the move to STIHL’s sustainable power alternatives has been a good one. “Going down the battery-technology range and the sustainability avenue has done huge things for my brand as well,” said Stuart. “In April 2024 we were named as one of the top 10 climate-solution providers in the APAC region. “It’s definitely been a big boost for the brand.”
To see more of STIHL’s battery range, log on to stihl.com.au.