FRESH PRODUCE GROWN ON GROCERY STORE ROOFTOPS

an aisle between two rows of vines growing fruits and vegetables black text with white background and white nup logo

A grocery store in Belgium sells fresh product only hours after it was harvested. How is this possible? It's because the grocery store grows them on their rooftop! This urban garden on the store's rooftop is a 360 square meter plot of beautiful tomatoes, lettuces and strawberries. After harvest, it's in grocery shelves in an hour. This very short supply chain allows for minimal packaging since it's not stored in other locations before reaching consumers. By having real, live plants above, nature can take care of keeping them fresh until they are purchased for consumption. These are also available all year round, so a steady supply is secured.

Although this is only a fraction of the produce available, it's a great way to show that it is possible to supply food in a different way. It definitely helps reduce overall food/storage/packaging waste. It's wonderful to see companies taking part in reducing waste. Would this be something interesting for your community?

In the UK, another grocery store has partnered with Food from the Sky. http://foodfromthesky.org.uk/ Food from the Sky is a community of Permaculture enthusiasts that are passionate growing food to sell in the supermarket below. Together, the provide learning and educational opportunities for the community. Together with the comm unity (both adults and children alike), they grow vegetables, fruit, herbs, and mushrooms. These fresh produce is then sold in the store 20 meters below. Their Seed2Seed program teaches members of the community about soil/sun/water, sustainability, planting, preserving nature, bees and pollinators, how to use garden tools.

Wonderful reviews flood Food from the sky such as:

“I am inspired by the project ‘Food from the Sky’ because it is urban food growing without pesticides (‘alternative’ culture) combined with an existing supermarket (the ‘mainstream’). I can hardly believe that I am so lucky, to have this beautiful vegetable garden on the roof of my local supermarket, to be able to learn about growing crops up there, to care for them, and to harvest them and then bring them down for sale in the supermarket! I’m already involved in it as a market gardener, composter and fence builder and also involved in welcoming new volunteers to the project and helping them settle in.

Mary Hogan – Fund raiser and volunteer

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For our new years resolution we as a family wanted to use less plastic. I chose the Nup toothbrushes together with my 10 year old daughter and she absolutely loves the designs! Great quality and great design!

Linda Grootberg, Nup Customer

I normally have medium bristles so I was a bit skeptical if this toothbrush would clean my teeth properly. Luckily they do a very good job. Will continue to buy here.

Boris Stein, Nup Customer

Love these!!! I bought Bamboo toothbrushes before from other brands but they look so boring. If I am going to help the earth I might as well do it with a fun design on the product!

Miranda Cheung, Nup Customer

I bought a couple for my whole family. What's great about it is each pack has 4 different designs so each of us (family of 4) tell who owns which. This month indicator is a great plus.

Faith Manuel, Nup Customer

Happy with it. First of all, I I would choose these toothbrushes even if sustainability was not a factor. I was really wasn't sure if I was going to like these, but wanted to check them out, because I'm step-by-step working on reducing my trash impact on the world in every way I can, small and large. Now I'm happy to report that I love the way these feel in my hand and in my mouth. The contour of the bristles is effective in getting good surface contact, and they are just the right balance between firm and gentle. I'm not sure what the bristles are made of, but at least my plastic trash has been reduced in a great way.

Louise Zimmerman, Nup Customer

These toothbrushes are fabulous! I can't speak highly enough about them. Perfect adult size tooth brush ... not too stiff not too soft. The handle fits nicely in your hands. So much nicer than plastic! I highly recommend

Jordan Rhodes, Nup Customer

Quality is good. I am buying this for our whole family! This is will be a life changing moment for us.

Edwin Alexander, Nup Customer

I was looking for an environmentally friendly toothbrush for a while. Although, I was afraid that the bristles would be too soft (which most of the bamboo toothbrushes are), but this one was great!! It was much more sturdy than I expected and I LOVE it. It comes with four toothbrushes so I gave one to my brother and hopefully I can convince my other family members to make the switch.

Haley Fuller, Nup Customer

I have been making an effort to be better not only to my body (using less chemicals, more organic, more natural) and also to the environment. When I realized even my toothbrushes can stick around far past their use causing more waste, I wanted to try something better. I found these toothbrushes and, with this one single purchase, have not only done something small to save the planet (hey, every little bit counts, right?) but also have toothbrushes for a solid year. These are great because they have these nice designs- and using one brush for three months each gets me through the year. I think all of my family is about to switch to these! They're great and I'm very happy to be doing my small part.

Opal Waters, Nup Customer

My entire family of 4 has been using these for about a month and I haven't had one complaint, and as anyone with kids and a husband knows, that means A LOT! Getting used to a wooden handle versus a plastic one takes a little getting used to, but the bamboo is of a high quality and it is not at all abrasive and over all, it is relatively smooth. It's not like you feel as if you are going to get splinters in your moth or that it is going to eventually break in half! My youngest is a toothbrush chewer abuses all of her toothbrushes horribly and this one held up great! I was also really impressed with the bristles. I was expecting them to be pretty tough but they were just the right texture to feel like they were really getting the job done but not hurting the gums at all.

Krista Reeves, Nup Customer