Beat Food Waste

Students design counter-top herb gardens to tackle food waste.

16:55 23 May 2016

Around 1.1 million tonnes of food is wasted in Britain every year, which is equivalent to £68 million. In a bid to resolve the problem, three students from Bristol University launched the Virgins VOOM 2016 campaign and designed a counter-top planter, using LED and aeroponic soilless technology that allows any individual to grow salad and herbs.

 

Jack Farmer a Biology student, who developed the idea upon recognizing a gap in the market for straight to your plate produce, said: “I don’t think many people come into contact with truly fresh vegetables. The taste is just so much different to the supermarket stuff, when there isn’t any chemicals and the nutrients haven’t been lost in transit. It's strange that people think that's what salad is supposed to taste like.”

 

Giving more details about the project, he said: “The thing is inner-city families/schools, they don’t have the room to grow their own vegetables in their gardens, or the conditions for them to thrive” explains Ben “with one of these planters you can set it up anywhere with access to the mains. It reduces the space needed for urban farming, which is good for the environment as well as your diet.”