Conveying the story of the banana
October 1st 2006

A new exhibit at the Eden Project, featuring a 50 metre conveyor circuit is set to tell the story of the banana.

Installed by Birminghambased Rusmail Conveyor Systems in partnership with French company OCA, the specially constructed conveyor carries large bundles of artificial bananas as if freshly picked from the plantation, which will travel down through the various levels of the Humid Tropics Biome to the packing station, ready for shipment aboard the life-size 'Tropic Trader'.

David Craddock, exhibit design manager says: "Our intention with any exhibit is to connect plants with people. We wanted visitors to appreciate them as botanical specimens and as commodity products, important to both the people and the economies where they are grown."

The exhibit has an interactive element inviting visitors to crank the handle and activate the conveyor system while learning all about the banana's epic journey. For authenticity, some banana bundles will be swathed in sacks, sent over from Costa Rica which are used to protect the bananas from pest infestation on their journey from the plantations.

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