A Green Vending Machine

We had our 2nd Green Lunch Day yesterday, an event organised by HJ on a monthly basis. In the last one, staff were encouraged to make an effort to bring a packed lunch, minimise waste and avoid unnecessary packaging. This time around, we felt it was the company's turn to make the extra effort so we introduced a Green Vending Machine.

It is a set of Herb plants consisting of Basil, Mint, Parsley, Thyme and a Greek Basil. Anyone can pick the leaves from the plants to add to their soups, omelettes, pasta or sandwiches. The legacy of this Green Lunch Day will be the plants that will rejuvenate and continue to add flavour to peoples' lunches. I thought that, with the right care, the plants would go on forever until i learnt that Basils are annuals. The rest,however, are perennials and should do well on the sunny window sill. The pots from Waitrose have a better quality compost and do not require as much watering as the Tesco ones. It's best to re-pot the lot with Alan's compost soon to make watering more predictable.

The use of plants in the office context has added a new dimension to how we experience 'work'. This evening, the techies stayed back for a software release and usually, would try to order something decent from the local Indian restaurant. We let ND choose this time, since it's his birthday on Sunday. When the pizzas arrived, some of us had it with herbs from the Green Vending Machine. The techno-food purists had theirs with something from the Blue one.

left: Green Tea with Mint, a Plant-based solution.