2017 DF Greenwell - Business SA Design for Export Awards
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South Australia's
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Exporters
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South Australia's
Design-led
Exporters
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South Australia's
Design-led
Exporters
Celebrating
South Australia's
Design-led
Exporters
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AWARDS > 2017 Gallery
2017 FINALIST
GREENWELL WATER SAVERS
GREENWELL
Category
PRODUCT DESIGN
ENVIRONMENTAL
Design
Brian Measday
The Greenwell is a product designed to assist deep root watering while preventing water runoff. Therefore, water wastage is eliminated during watering events. The other attributes of the Greenwell product are listed: -Promotes faster tree growth -Guards against damage from whipper snippers. -Establishes trees on flat or sloping sites. -Retains mulch and fertilizer-stops bird or wind scatter. -Has a zip join for easy installation and reuse. -Keeps lawn or grass away from tree trunk. -Conserves water. -Delivers water quickly into the tree root zone. -Leads to a 25% water saving result. -Greatly improves newly planted tree survival numbers.
The market segments that are being targeted are municipal councils for watering street trees, home gardeners and land developers. Therefore, people and organizations that are concerned about establishing trees and saving water. There are no competitors as the Greenwell is a unique patented product. The needs and motivations of the customer are very well known after 19 years of being in the market and having outstanding and escalating sales each year.
HR products, having branches in all Australian States and having access to the likes of Bunnings, Mitre 10, etc, has proved to be the ideal choice as our appointed manufacturer and Australian wholesale distributor. They have experienced great success with Greenwells and of course, their success, has been our success. In Adelaide, as an example, every council, apart from 2, now uses Greenwell. This situation is now common across Australia. Bunnings, and other major etailers have now stocked Greenwell for at least 18 years. Home gardeners buy large volumes of Greenwells.
The Greenwell product is practical, easy to install and it fulfils its purpose 100%. The aesthetic of the product fits its use and appeals to the target market. Greenwells patented zip-join -both sizes- allows for easy installation and reuse. It is easy to put around the tree and to take off from around the tree. The large Greenwell comes in 3 sections that zip together.This makes for improved freight and handling costs. The regular size nests well.The Greenwell comes in three colours, heritage green, black and terracotta. It has been extremely well accepted in the market place across Australia.
Market acceptance has been incredibly pleasing. The prompt understanding of the products functionand purpose has been an outstanding feature.
The product is used by councils and home gardeners across Australia as it performs its functions extremely well. Water bills become lower, survival rates of newly planted trees have shown dramatic improvement. This shows that the Greenwell is a very successful product. After a tree is planted in the ground, the Greenwell is opened (special zip-join) and placed around the tree trunk. Because of its serrated base, it is then easily worked into the ground around the tree. It can be positioned in the soil at whatever level is required. The images attached to the submission assist in understanding the installation of the product.
The Regular size of 430 mm W x 190 mm H, holds 26L of water.
The Larger size of 600 mm W x 250 mm H, holds 50L of water.
Applied water is delivered quickly deeply into the tree roots.
One of the many attributes of the product is that it is simple to understand and to use. It is practical, easy to use and install and it can last for a long period of time. It is a very durable product. Comments from users often mention “why has no one thought of this before”.
The Greenwell is a recycled UV stabilized plastic product and itself can be recycled. Because of its patented zip-join, Greenwell can be easily moved from one tree to another. It can easily be opened and closed. When closed, it is watertight.The product’s continued acceptance and exceptional growth in the market place, testifies to its efficiency. The materials and processes used, do no harm to the environment. In fact, the use of Greenwells have many environmental benefits. They have improved the survival rate of trees because it enables trees to be properly watered – deep root watering – during the crucial period soon after planting, which is very important. Trees are of enormous importance in reducing our carbon footprint. The advantages from so many Councils using Greenwells are significant, as they not only save a great deal of water, but many more trees survive. The home gardener also experiences the same advantages.
In many parts of Australia it is very difficult to grow trees because of the lack of rain. The use of Greenwells in these low rainfall areas enables many more trees to be planted with a good chance of ultimate survival. The fact that Greenwells – because of their depth under the soil – guard against weeds growing close to and around tree trunks means less weed poison needs to be used resulting in positive environmental outcomes. Water saving remains to be the prime and most important feature resulting from using Greenwells
I initially searched Government intellectual property records to see if my product was unique. I was pleased to find that it was. Patents and other intellectual property are now held in Australia, the USA, Canada and Europe. It certainly has world first patented features.
The Greenwell has been developed to optimize deep root watering. This is a high priority for most gardeners and arborists but not easily achieved. The Greenwell sides slope outward which, because of the pressure of the soil, makes it difficult, particularly after a week or so, for vandals to pull out of the ground. Another feature of Greenwell is its sharp serrated base which assists easy installation into the soil. The Greenwell will keep weeds or grass away from the tree trunk and guard against trunk damage from whipper snippers.
Councils in Adelaide suburbs, including the Adelaide City Council, use Greenwells in large quantities. This usage is mirrored in all Australian States. Before they used Greenwells, most of the water applied to street trees ran down street gutters. Now such wastage is eliminated. Bunnings, Australia wide, sell Greenwells as well as Mitre 10, Stratco and many other garden centres across Australia.
Greenwells are now sold in Australia, New Zealand, the USA, across Europe and in Canada. I receive royalties based on the number of Greenwells sold.
Greenwell displays the Smart Watermark Product logo on all of its promotional material.
Excellent sales indicate strongly that the product represents good value for money for the end user. Sales of Greenwells are approaching the one million mark. Sales attracting royalties for the year ended 30.6.17 totalled 113,134 units. The recent appointment of distributors, in Europe, the USA, and in Canada, indicate a positive future for Greenwell. Greenwell sales in Europe, the USA and Canada are expected, based on proven results to date, to increase in a dramatic manner. In the USA, Lowes has recently started stocking the product for the home gardener, a very pleasing development. Lowes has approximately 1850 stores in North America, early sales have exceeded expectations and if products sell as well in Lowes as they do in Bunnings in Australia, sales will be remarkable.
We have appointed Sherrilltree, a leading distributor to councils in the USA, to sell our product in North America, this also is a recent development, but already several councils in the USA & Canada are using Greenwells – and all have expressed great satisfaction with the product.
The future looks to be very attractive.
