Established in 1983, Nursery Traders is a story of innovation, knowledge and
continuous improvement built on three generations of nursery industry pioneers.
Our Managing Director Tim Bunker has scaled our wholesale greenlife company to
meet every conceivable industry landscape supply need in one streamlined,
efficient operation while driving the business sustainably.
Enabled by our dedicated, experienced
team, today we offer the largest range of greenlife displayed in a single
location in Queensland—distributing millions of plants into Queensland's prized
public and private green spaces.
This is our story.
30 years of milestones
1983: At inception, Nursery Traders carved a role as
Australia's first ever nursery industry centre-point—bringing together a network
of growers and suppliers to display products available for immediate sale to the
industry, and forging a new era in nursery product marketing in Australia.
1992: We opened our new purpose-built facility, taking
our site from 500m2 to 3500m2, incorporating water
recycling infrastructure and introducing purpose-built software.
1993: We doubled the size of the open display areas to 7,500m2
providing our clients with an extended and more diverse product range from an
increased number of supply partners.
Efficiency thinking and problem-solving run like deep veins through
everything I do - wired into me by three generations of ground-breaking,
innovative nurserymen and women. - Tim Bunker, Nursery Traders MD
1998: Fuelled by six years of water recycling successes,
the Nursery Traders Board committed to the goal of achieving world best practice
in sound environmental management. Over the next 20 years our
achievements would be awarded by every significant business sustainability
honour in the country.
1999: Our water recycling expanded to include sand filtration infrastructure
and four 35,000 litre storage tanks, reaching a total capacity of 142,000
litres.
1999: The Nursery Traders' website was commissioned bringing us online and at
our clients' fingertips.
2000: We launched our e-remittance system—fully
automating the bi-monthly electronic reporting of sales, purchases, selling
commissions, rentals and calculation of cash 'n' carry market supply partner
payments in a paperless solution.
2001: We extended water collection methods with underground catchment tanks,
a chamber to divert storm-water, tank control infrastructure, silt bins and
grass swales—taking collection capacity to 227,000 litres, and working with the
EPA to showcase to industry the potential of recycled water use.
2002: After more than two years of development and testing, we introduced
wireless bar coding, which we believe was the first use in Queensland of
wireless bar code scanning at point of sale.
2002: Open area displays were extended to 2817m2 and a larger
purpose-built shade house was opened providing our clients with a much wider
range of shade loving plants.
2004: The online plant catalogue was launched enabling
our clients to purchase Nursery Traders products and price their quotations 24/7
without having to set foot in our nursery.
2004: The company was rebranded, incorporating a new logo and a new tagline
The Gateway to Total Plan and Landscape SupplyTM —reflecting the
total supply capability of Nursery Traders.
2005: An extension to the main showroom took the floor space to
1800m2 significantly increasing the display area available for allied
horticultural products.
2005: Credit card facilities were introduced providing additional payment
flexibility for our clients.
2005: The market changed from rental and commission to commission only for
supply partner sales.
2005: We added a further 1500m2 to the market open display area
extending product lines for our clients.
2006: We added a further 2,750m2 to the market
open display accommodating additional supply partner products and volume lines
for our landscaping clients.
2007: We purchased SynergetX—developing software for the specialised sales,
distribution and inventory systems required to maximise business efficiency.
2008: We advanced our stormwater harvesting—making use of every capture
surface and adding four more above-ground tanks and pumping, piping and
switching equipment. We took storage to 698,000 litres and decreased potable
water use by 96% per hectare.
2010: We installed an on-site weather station that could
monitor rainfall, humidity, solar radiation, evapotranspiration and wind speed
and adjust our irrigation cycle. A new chlorine storage and injection system
improved filtering, tripled water treatment and reduced energy consumption by
80%.
2010: Our newly installed 228 solar photovoltaic panels, each rated to
generate an average 208 kilowatt-hours daily formed Australia's largest
installation of Kyocera solar panels and Aurora inverters—and the largest
installation of its type in Queensland's private sector.
2010: We became the first wholesale nursery market in Australia to be
accredited under the Nursery Industry Accreditation Scheme Australia 'NIASA'
assuring our clients that we operate to the highest recognised standard for
wholesale nursery markets in Australia.
2010: We became the first wholesale nursery market in Australia to be
accredited with EcoHort certification endorsing Nursery Traders' achievements
and systematic approach towards responsible environmental and natural resource
management.
2010: We received the first zero consumption water bill, no potable water was
used from 27 July 2012 to 30 August 2010.
2010: We received the first electricity bill in credit, from here on we have
been actively supplying energy into the Queensland power grid.
2011: Our waste minimising initiatives reduced waste
collection by 50%.
2011: Accredited as the 81st partner of ecoBiz, this business/government
partnership recognises efficiencies and resource use reduction by businesses for
financial and environmental benefits.
2011: This was the first financial year we achieved no electricity utility
expense – turning a utility expense into an income stream.
2012: After 20 years of water efficiency, we reached our
goal of saving 500 million litres of water by World Water Day March 2012.
2012: We set a new goal—to become Australia's first zero footprint business
by the end of 2025—zero water, zero power, zero waste.
2013: We celebrate Nursery Traders' 30th anniversary
with a new corporate identity and a new way of doing business. Welcome to The
green gateway®.