Vending

UK vending machine features live foliage

Image provided by Mobilane.

May 26, 2023

Mobilane, a Bemmel, Netherlands-based horticulture specialist, has teamed with Decorum Vending, a Christchurch, U.K. vending operator, to install a vending machine with live plants attached to its exterior at the Bournemouth, U.K. train station, according to a press release.

The adaptability and compactness offered by Mobilane's LivePanel system enabled the design team to find a green solution with six interchangeable cassettes, as well as an irrigation system, integrated into the machine's wall.

The cassettes support 54 handpicked plants on each machine wall, with varieties chosen for hardiness and ability to thrive in shady settings. Collectively, the plants are projected to absorb nearly five kilograms of carbon and produce 2.4k kilograms of oxygen every year.

"We are delighted to see our LivePanel system applied in such an innovative way," Alexander Ilsink, CEO of Mobilane's parent company, Darthuizer Group, said in the release. "Our aim is to share the benefits of nature and vertical greenery far and wide, and this project represents a wonderful new opportunity to do so."

"No one had designed a living wall to wrap over a vending machine before, so we were pioneering the way, looking at ways to adapt good quality wall systems that we know and trust to this unique setting," Stephen Dieppe, managing director of phs Greenleaf, who led the design and installation of the walls, said in the release.