Herb in a Cup

Herb in a cup is a learning and educational platform that features and promotes Herb in cup classes, building commercially edible food forests, earthworm composting kits, oyster mushroom grow kits, organic fertilizer brews, and other supplies. Social entrepreneur Balan Gopal is passionate about taking on environmental challenges in this ever-changing landscape of life. In Pic: Social Entrepreneur, Balan Gopal has more than 200 herbs growing on the corridor of his HDB floor

The objective of Herb in a cup is to promote and address environmental challenges through the different spheres with the objective of addressing climate change at a local consumer level. This model below demonstrates the workflow of spheres that promote the Herb in a cup sustainability model. This model allows for anyone to adopt and embrace a culture of sustainable, living, and that climate change is within you.

Balan Gopal, fitness trainer and father of two, has more than 200 herbs growing on the corridor of his HDB floor. His lush herb collection is a labor of love—two years worth of curious adventures and hard work. Being self-taught, Balan sees opportunity and possibility where others do not, with an immense passion to learn, apply and teach to quench his thirst of curiosity.

His myriad of interests – from personal fitness and mental training to the effective recycling of organic matter and growing his own food – has encouraged him to pursue social enterprise projects such as building urban aesthetic food forests in confined spaces and providing employment and ‘paying-it-forward’ meals by recycling used bottles into decorative lamps.

Balan believes that education and the application of eco-projects provide vital solutions to the challenges in today’s landscape. His mission statement is to make Singapore a true ‘green’ food paradise with a focus on healthy and mindful living.

Oyster Facebook Kits:

Balan recently took part in Green In Future’s Facebook contest to provide ideas on reducing environmental impact and he won first prize for his idea for reducing waste and recycling it.

He collected used coffee and sugar cane stems from local stalls and used them as a base to grow oyster mushrooms. Each bag… our landfills. The best part of this…the same time, and what’s left in the bag that did not become oyster mushrooms can be used as a soil enhancer or compost.

Use waste material, like coffee grounds. Mix them with the compost because it takes a while before it breaks down and blends into the soil to become nutrients for the plants. He uses coffee grounds mixed with discarded sugarcane stems to grow oyster mushrooms.