Sustainable Design with Coconut Soil

Inspiration: Cradle to Cradle design concept

1. What should the product system include?

As a customer, I would want to buy a product system that supplies only seeds and coconut soil (with customized nutrient content based on the seed type). Customers have their own requirements of area to be covered: a single pot, several pots, a line of plants on the balcony (no pots), a garden or a whole farm. Hence, Proflora's biodegradable pot should not be a part of this product system, but a separate product.
One product unit should be sufficient for preparing one pot. The quantity of the granulates and seeds needed to prepare a pot is very less and therefore, can be packaged in sachets. This would save space and make it easy to transport. Since, each seed type needs a specific type of soil, it is better to attach the seeds' sachet with the corresponding soil sachet to avoid confusion.

Therefore, one product unit includes:
Two sachets attached to each other
         -Sachet1 consists of just soil granulates
         -Sachet2 consists of the seeds and a few soil granulates

Following is the sketch of the proposed product unit:

2. How should it work?

A. If I, a customer, have a requirement of making three flower pots in my balcony, I would need three units of above-mentioned Proflora's product. 
B. I buy one biodegradable pot only since I have a soft drinks bottle and a milk can lying empty in my house which I want to use as pots.
C. To prepare a flower pot, I take Sachet1 and put it in the cut milk can and pour water over it. There is no need to tear open the sachet! Just water it!
D. The sachet made of paper gets wet which allows the expanding granulates to tear it open and cover two-thirds of the pot with coco-soil. The sachet becomes a part of the soil.
E. I keep Sachet2 on the newly formed surface and water it. This causes the granulates to expand, tear open the sachet and cover the whole pot with soil, burying the seeds in the process. This completes the process of preparing one flower pot. Same procedure is followed for the other two pots.

Following is the illustration of the proposed process:

Advantages of the process:
1. Sachet2 is essentially forming the 'top soil' in the pot. Like nature has, we could enrich Sachet2 with nutrients required for early growth stage of the sapling.
2. There is no requirement of soiling my hands while doing the process 
3. Reusing a non-biodegradable product (PET bottles) which is recycled very less contributes to sustainability of the process
4. If a larger area is to be covered, one has to lay the sachets at equal distances and water them. This would ensure equal distribution of soil, nutrients and seeds.
5. Not selling the pot with the product gives the customer an opportunity to think creatively for finding containers to hold the soil. It makes the product usable in more ways and scenarios.
6. Whenever we think about sustainability, we think of a gradual process which takes time to complete the cycle and is not visible immediately. The process described above lets the user see the sachet become a part of the soil immediately. It makes an instantaneous statement of being sustainable.
7. Paper cannot be considered biodegradable always. It depends on the method of its disposal. It degrades only if it goes back into the soil and not in the landfills. This process ensures that the paper used for the sachet goes into the soil.

3. How should it be packaged?

1. The paper used for Sachet1 and Sachet2 is made from coconut fiber dust and recycled paper
2. The sachets are sealed using the traditional glue: paste made by mashing cooked rice with water
3. There are perforations between Sachet1 and Sachet2 to help separate them by tearing.
4. A picture on the sachets depicts the type of seed
5. Illustrations on the sachet guide the user through the process

4. Where should it be distributed?

1. Plant nursuries
2. Botanical gardens
3. Public parks
4. Flower shows

5. How should it be marketed and communicated?

The product's USP is its sustainability. The product packaging should clearly enlist the impacts that the user is making by choosing this product.
The process of using the product (described above) would leave a lasting, visual impression on the user. To see the sachet disintegrate and become part of the soil in a matter of seconds is an effective way of demonstrating the sustainability of the product. This would help in publicity of the product by word of mouth.
The sachet comes with a sticker which is transferred by the user on to the container holding the newly formed coco-soil. This sticker (with a logo or a symbol) can become an identity of plants using coco-soil. 

6. Audiences to which the product is marketed:

1. Students
2. Health conscious individuals (frequenting parks or gyms)
3. Municipal corporations
4. Older generation
5. Housewives

7. How are the communities working on the product benefitted?

Paper making is a simple process which is generally done by cottage industries without any need of heavy machines. The Proflora workers can be engaged in the making of paper that is used for the sachets. The printing and packaging too can be done manually at low cost.

8. Name suggestions

'Biogro' is a general name. It would be better if the product name is also related to coconut.
1. "Biogro Narikela": Sanskrit is the oldest language of the South Asian region which produces most amount of coconuts. 'Narikela' is the Sanskrit word for coconut.  

2. "Biogro Cocosera": The scientific name of coconut is Cocos nucifera, which can be combined to form the word 'Cocosera'.