News

Kiosk made from organic waste coming to NRF

January 10, 2008

LOS ANGELES — Olea Inc., a designer and manufacturer of interactive self-service kiosks, announced it has produced a "green" kiosk that is made from an organic waste material. The kiosk is to debut at the 97th Annual National Retail Federation Convention and Expo in New York next week.

The kiosk will be running Experticity's On-screen Expert software and will be powered by IBM's latest-generation AnyPlace Kiosk.

The kiosk's main structure is built entirely of an engineered panel made from the sorghum plant. Sorghum is grown around the world for food production. The plant stalks are dried, and heat pressed using a non-toxic adhesive to form the board product. The stalks of the plant are not used in food production and would otherwise be thrown away.

The company said it has no plans to put the kiosk into production, but it is hoping to spark an interest in the self-service industry to start thinking green.

"On a daily basis we recycle all of our cardboard, plastics, and other waste products here at Olea," said company vice president Frank Olea. "We feel that this new kiosk is a very innovative step in the right direction showing retailers and other companies that it is possible to go high-tech and green at the same time."