The first cork semi-hydroponic urban garden for greener cities and homes
The cork Pbox is the first semi-hydroponic, European, biodegradable #urbangarden with an innovative cork material to grow fresh aromatic herbs and leafy greens in minimum space. In the Mediterranean region, the cork oak is of great importance, especially in our context of climate crisis: it resists fires and ensures very rich ecosystems. We have exploited the non-used bark to adopt the valuable assets of cork in our growing system: natural, waterproof, resistant, aesthetic, and durable.
Cross-border/international
Germany
Spain
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Mainly urban
It refers to other types of transformations (soft investment)
No
No
Yes
2022-12-01
As an individual
First name: Milena Last name: Vilaseca Malé Gender: Female Nationality: Spain Address (country of permanent residence for individuals or address of the organisation)<br/>Street and number: Lauterstrasse, 25 Town: Berlin Postal code: 12159 Country: Germany Direct Tel:+49 1520 8778283 E-mail:milena@theurbanpermaculture.com Website:https://theurbanpermaculture.com
The Urban Permaculture's model enhances the power photosynthesis within our urban lifestyles, with minimum space. One of the main challenges in cities is space, therefore we cultivate in a semi-hydroponic system, perfect for that, where the minimal amount of rich bio susbtrate provide nutrients and the plants develop their rooting system in the water without needing to be transplanted. The Urban Permaculture helps citizens of European cities fill their balconies, windowsills, urban gardens with photosynthesis. Not only will they become greener but also edible. We help them grow from home part of their dishes, infusions, and deserts. It is easy, safe, and healthy (for them and the planet).
We have developed various products for urban gardening such as ready-to-plant kits, that include everything people need to grow aromatics and leafy greens from the seed to the dish. We have included all generations when developing them.
Our activity is driven by environmental and sustainability engagements. We have been looking for the best materials and solutions to establish easy, efficient, and accessible, urban gardening in European homes. And our latest innovation is our Cork Pbox made of an innovative, sustainable and European material.
Urban Gardening
Semi-hydroponic
Cork
Green cities
Biodegradable material
In the context of our urgent climate crisis, we need to redefine cities to make them vivable and durable. For that, photosynthesis is a key and yet so basic element. We contribute to the transformation of our urban environments into greener cities by helping citizens grow edible photosynthesis in their homes, in a sustainable way. For our urban gardens, the goal is to offer the best solutions for our planet and our customers. And for that, we have been developping a biodegradable plastic substitute. End of 2022 we launched our Pbox made of an innovative cork material suitable for injection to produce our urban gardens.
Cork is the outer layer of the cork tree that grows in specific areas such as the mediterranean countries of Spain and Portugal. It regenerates its bark year after year, absorbing 3 to 5 times more CO2. Cork is waterproof, resistant, natural and aesthetic. In the Mediterranean region, the cork oak is of great importance, especially in our context of climate crisis, because it resists fires and ensures very rich ecosystems. The traditional cork industry, although it ensures the good management of this bark, produces an important quantity of by-products since not all extracted cork is suitable for the cork stoppers production. To replace plastic usage, very common in the gardening industry, we have decided to seize this opportunity and take advantage of the valuable assets of cork for our new semi-hydroponic urban garden.
Combined with PLA, the non-used cork powder adds to a biodegradable material resistance and durability as well as lightness and waterproofness.
People that grow aromatics and leafy greens with their Pbox they not only enjoy the process and the veggies in their dishes, but also contribute to capturing CO2. In addition, the cork that was used to create the urban garden also already captured CO2 when growing. With our growing system the used resources are minimized (less usage of water, soil, energy...) and no waste.
Our cork Pbox is aesthetic, functional, fitting to everyone's home. With its long and thin shape it is very adaptable for example in windowsills, kitchens, living rooms or small balconies. I becomes a decoration item, with eco-design, full of life. The cork gives a very nice natural brown color to the product. It is also very lightweight so that everyone can move it around. The urban garden is movable, for example people can take it from their windowsill to the kitchen when cooking delicious and nutritious dishes.
In our highly sedentary and digitalised society, gardening is very beneficial for human's mental and physical health. It's not only benefiting our planet but also our bodies and minds.
It was also for us important to take into consideration all levels of knowledge and time-availability. Not everyone has the time or the willingness to start cultivating in a challenging and time-consuming way. With our semi-hydroponic system, cultivating in the city becomes easy and efficient. Everyone can succeed and enjoy the process. The maintenance is very easy, no need to have a green thumb, and the water consumption is reduced. People can easily grow herbs and leafy vegetables for your dishes and drinks: from the urban garden to the dish, it doesn't get more local!
Our project is also to share knowledge and experience through workshops and blog articles, sharing urban gardening experiences and tips with all social classes and ages. From March to September we organize workshops to spread the interest in urban gardening within urban citizens, all generations and levels of knowledge included. With kits specially made for children, for students, for adults... we include everyone in our offer. Another priority for us is to make urban gardening accessible to every european citizen. And for that, we have a wide range of affordable prices to allow as many people as possible to start gardening.
People growing in a Pbox are contributing to positive change while introducing healthier habits in their lifestyles. They take action to green their urban living environments and improve their eating habits and mental health. We, all citizens of European cities, have the role to improve our cities to make them vivable for the future.
Therefore, we constantly listen to our customer's feedback and demands. For example, asking them the organic varieties they are excited to cultivate and enjoy in their dishes to adjust our offer to their preferences.
To develop such product, several stakeholders were involved in the process.
First of all, the cork industry. Because not all bark can be used to manufacture cork stoppers, this industry was involved indirectly, as we used the leftover cork powder. The development of the cork bark industry also ensures a good management of cork oaks forests, essential for the mediterranean ecosystems.
The cork we involve in the project comes from Spain, where also the laboratory involved could research for the best cork blend to create this new innovative cork material. The goal was to find a material that could be injected in factories to produce products as one can do with plastic.
After that, the industrialisation was done in Germany, where the special mold was built to inject the cork material and produce our Pboxes.
With this project, the efficiency and the pertinence of the semi-hydroponic system is introduced in citizen's lifes. With our project, less is more. We know that the plant production sector is very plastic-dependent, and growing vegetables and aromatic often involves too much space, heavy materials, and lots of energy and resources. With this system we bring quality but with less need of resources. Saving energy, water, substrate and space (less space also means less weight for transport and therefore less energy). Our Pbox with this biodegradable material is designed to not produce waste and yet be durable, no single use.
We recently launched the Pbox, now available in our website. Which means that the challenge of finding the right plastic substitute for a durable urban garden was achieved. Now the opportunities and possibilities that come with this innovative product are endless. First, starting by spreading urban gardens in all European homes and followed by more potential innovations. Always with the purpose of bringing edible photosynthesis in our urban lives to contribute to the shift towardsd more self-suficient cities.
Currently there are indoor urban gardens in the market but they are mainly made out of plastic and the majority of them are on the expensive range, presented as a high tech product, cunsuming energy and not accessible to many urban citizens (they can go from 100 to 400€).
There are options in the market for biodegradable materials but most of the time they only serve as a single use product. The cork material is an innovation that benefits from the many cork bark qualities to create a resistant, biodegradable material.
From a very plastic-dependent industry, we need to find alternatives for a durable future. But those alternatives need to be accessible to a large public, not only to the few that are lucky to purchase it. We offer a durable, no single use and yet biodegradable, urban garden that is accessible to a larger majority of the population.
Since the beginning, for us it was important to find an alternative to recycled and recyclable plastic. We still believe it is important to upcycle the already existing plastic into a durable product that is why we keep our recycled plastic options. But it is even more important to find the alternative that will allow us to stop relying on that material that should not be further produced, only recycled. That is our thought process and why we started the journey of finding a biodegradable material for our urban gardens.
However, some challenges came with it.
Because we cultivate in a semi-hydroponic system, we need a durable and waterproof material. Therefore, it was essential to find a long-lasting option and not a single use pot that would biodegrade in a few weeks or months as the ones already existing in the market do.
Cork has the properties we needed. Coming from the mediterrenean area in Catalonia we have always aknowledged the qualities and the potential of cork. For two years we did research and injection tests to find the best material that would be able to contain water, be durable, resistant, and also natural, which we found thanks to cork.
Our Pbox urban gardens can be produced in big quantities to reach every home in European cities. With balconies or without, a window suffises.
A Pbox in every European home, that could have a significant impact.
Capturing CO2 emissions while implementing healthier living habits for every urban habitant in Europe. Every urban garden is capturing CO2 when growing nutritious plants. In addition, by starting small, we can go big. If people start cultivating in their homes, they are more likely to contribute in bigger projects such as a neighborhood shared garden.
Also, as mentioned, we address the challenge of finding plastic substitutes for our ecological transition with the innovation of a biodegradable and durable cork material for a specific product that goes to any European urban home.
