From this year, we will only order pesticide-free plants. This makes nature in Amsterdam healthier and encourages growers to cultivate more plants without pesticides. Additionally, we make purchasing agreements with growers so that in 2 to 3 years we can buy all plants pesticide-free from them.
We already buy as many pesticide-free plants as possible, but at the moment not all plants are fully available pesticide-free. Growers with whom we make purchasing agreements can now start growing new plants so that we can buy them from them in 2 to 3 years. We will annually plant and sow 70,000 square meters of pesticide-free greenery in the city.
‘Half of the wild bee species are threatened with extinction’
Alderman Melanie van der Horst: “Pesticides that growers spray on plants to protect them from insects also kill bees, butterflies, and other pollinators. Half of the wild bee species are threatened with extinction. The pesticides enter animals and humans through the food chain. Increasingly more is known about the harmful effects of pesticides, and therefore I no longer want half measures. It can be pesticide-free, so we will do that. I hope that through this choice more growers will switch to pesticide-free plants, so that nature throughout the country improves.”
Not enough
At the moment, we can only obtain 37 percent of the planting fully pesticide-free. Apparently, it is not enough to only express a preference for pesticide-free plants to growers, as was done until now. Therefore, we now completely stop purchasing plants with pesticides.
Beds with evergreen temporarily less attractive
Especially evergreen plants, such as shrubs, are not yet available pesticide-free. Beds that will be laid out in the coming years will temporarily be filled with pesticide-free flower mixtures until the evergreen plants are grown pesticide-free. This means that these plant beds will look less attractive in the coming winters than other green areas.
Exception
Plants with pesticides that we have already ordered will still be used. For monumental parks, cemeteries, and around memorial sites, we make an exception until January 1, 2029, until the plants are available pesticide-free.
Pantar
Meanwhile, Pantar has started growing 11 types of pesticide-free perennial plants for the municipality. We can already plant these in the coming season. In total, this concerns 44,000 pieces, 10 percent of what we need. The first plants have already been delivered. In the coming years, Pantar will grow more pesticide-free greenery.