Edible Bottle Hitting Stores Soon?

The Ooho is a blob-like container made from sodium alginate gel filled with water that could change the way we stay hydrated forever, putting an end to plastic bottles. It was first invented by a group of engineers in 2014, but they are now fundraising to get these spherical edible bottles put on the market. This fascinating biodegradable blob was created by Skipping Rocks Lab, a team made up of chemists, engineers, designers and business advisors, continuing to pioneer the use of seaweed in other packaging uses, with a mission to become the leading global producer of seaweed-based packaging, giving an alternative to the use of plastic bottles.

The spherical structure has a double gelatinous membrane made using a mixture of sodium alginate, taken from brown algae and calcium chloride. The membrane can be flavoured and coloured, and can also be used for other liquids such as soft drinks, spirits and cosmetics. The technique used for creating the spheres is called gelification, a technique used in cooking to change liquids into gel by adding an edible gelling agent. Using this method would be a much better solution than plastic bottles.

Plastic water bottles are made of polyethylene terephthalate (PET). Approximately 50 billion of these are produced in the US each year with most discarded. According to the National Association for PET Container Resources, the rate of recycling has remained at a constant 31% since 2013 which leaves more than 4 billion pounds of unrecycled PET bottles lying around in landfills, roadsides and even in the oceans. PET is also considered as to be essentially non-biodegradable, as research has shown plastic bottles are estimated to take as long as 450 years to decompose. Because of this, scientists are finding new ways to approach other suggestions towards other packaging materials.

Currently, the edible water container is not available commercially, although the developers are working hard to bring it to the market. Prototypes have been tested in several parts of Europe. However, there are still major challenges still to overcome before the Ooho is marketed to the public. For example, the membrane is thin, but it is still not strong enough to withstand shipping and handling on a large scale. Drinking from it can also be difficult because of its amorphous shape and lack of rigidity.

Skipping Rocks Lab plans to pilot Ooho at UK events, such as the London marathon. With a huge 750,000 bottles of water being handed out at the marathon alone, it’s very clear to see what an impact the biodegradable bubble will have on plastic waste, especially since it’s also produced for a lower cost than its plastic counterpart. What do you think of this genius conception?