It all began with an initiative to make use of an empty rooftop space of a factory located in a dry area and turn it green. The client, PT Nutricia Indonesia Sejahtera, wanted to plant a hydroponic-based garden, and needed a dedicated team run the project and, most importantly, maintain the plants on a daily basis.

As a facility services partner that has been supporting the company of Danone Indonesia's affiliates for the past 11 years, ISS Indonesia is there to make a difference. Four of our cleaning placemakers were entrusted with breathing life into the client’s idea of the hydroponic sky garden.

For Yunus, ISS Indonesia’s Service Supervisor at Nutricia Ciracas Factory, the call to become involved in the project came out of the blue. He and his team had never imagined that this might also became an opportunity for them to gain new knowledge and insights into gardening.

"What we had known before was only for soil-based plants. We then tried to find out by learning from open sources, we also went to retail plant nursery, until the client brought a farmer consultant in for us to learn about hydroponic nurseries," Yunus said.

After less than three weeks of intensive learning in February this year, the team and the client finally welcomed their first hydroponic sky garden harvest. Fifteen to 20 kilograms of pesticide-free and crunchy water spinach, Chinese cabbage or also known as pak choi, head lettuce and green lettuce are now harvested every month, and then shared with the client’s employees, canteen retail vendors and our placemakers.

It gives our team huge satisfaction to be involved and successfully manage the hydroponic sky garden. "It is honestly fun to do and brings us a dynamic experience in our daily routines. We can still focus on our main cleaning services work, while also gaining new knowledge and developing our skills," Yunus explained.

The client sees this as Yunus and his team "going the extra mile," by bringing intangible benefits to people working on the site. A few unexpected technical problems notwithstanding, the team can create more environmentally friendly solutions at very low cost.

Nutricia Ciracas Factory's hydroponic sky garden project is one of Danone's representatives at the Nudge Global Impact Challenge 2021. It has qualified and passed national and Asia Pacific regional selection, and will compete together with five other projects from Danone worldwide. In the next phases of the project, the team will develop the use of wind-powered water pumps, and utilise waste water from air conditioners to irrigate the plants.

Around 70 of ISS Indonesia's placemakers are currently delivering memorable workplace experience at the Nutricia Ciracas Factory through cleaning services, support services and security services. Our people care about making life easier, more productive and enjoyable for our customers.