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Power distribution manufacturer National Switchgear (NSG), Lewisville, Texas, has been watching its company garden bloom and set fruit over the course of the summer. The garden team started the project in the spring as one of many green initiatives to become more environmentally friendly. The project began in January with NSG employees building six garden beds out of cinder blocks. They then ordered mulch and dirt to fill the beds. Shortly after, seeds were planted and the “fruits of all their labor” are starting to show.
“I'm a gardener at home too,” says President Doug Powell. “So I love the spring and tilling the soil and planting. But it's when the harvest starts that the rewards for your hard work can be seen. Every day when you go out into the garden and pick, you feel a sense of reward and satisfaction.”
Some of the company's other green initiatives this year include individual workspace recycle bins, larger bins at designated community areas, and new eco-friendly drinking water dispensers to eliminate the need for plastic water bottles.
The vegetables grown from the garden will go to employee families, but extra produce may be donated to community centers to help people in need. Future plans vary in size and complexity, but all are designed to make a positive impact on the environment, help reduce the carbon footprint of the company and increase employee job satisfaction and wellbeing.
“I would love to someday generate some of our own electric power here at NSG,” says Powell. “I would like to see a wind turbine at the back of our property, or maybe solar panels on the tops of our warehouses.”