Seedlip turns discarded lemons into coasters to promote sustainability

Non-alcoholic ‘spirit’ brand Seedlip is teaming up with London bar Lyaness and agri-tech company Green Lab to show drinkers how they can reuse food waste at home.

(Photo: Green Lab)

The saying goes ‘when life gives you lemons, make lemonade.’

But Seedlip is hoping to show London bar-hoppers the humble yellow citrus fruit is more useful than you’d think.

The drinks label, which Diageo bought a majority stake in earlier this month, is collaborated with Agri-tech company Green Lab on a project with the team behind Lyaness, formerly Dandelyan, that champions sustainable solutions to food waste.

The two companies have taken discarded Lemon halves from behind the bar at Lyaness and transformed them into re-usable citrus drinks coasters. These coasters are now being used in the bar to serve drinks to customers, closing the loop on food waste.

It is the first of a four-part series Seedlip is running on how every day, throw-away items can be repurposed into useable bar accessories.

“Green Lab looks for individuals who don’t simply want to tinker, but actually want to make a difference” Andrew Gregson, Green Lab’s founder, said.

“Thanks to the serendipitous nature of how the space works, agriculturalists, botanists, scientists, engineers & designers can mix and play to come up with quite wacky ideas.”

Gregson said that “consequences of the decisions made now are going to impact a generation 10, 20, and 40 years from now.

“We’re trying to change the aeroplane whilst we’re flying it.”