This No-Plastic Water “Bottle” is An Impactful Recycling Innovation

The plastic water bottle has been the bane of sustainability efforts for years. Not only does it make up at least 13 percent of municipal waste (according to the EPA), but as little as 9 percent of plastic in 2012 was recovered for recycling and reuse. Even with slimmer plastic bottles and campaigns to end disposable bottled water, bottled water still continues to create tons of trash and wastes energy.

However, one innovative company is developing a new way to package water–at home. According to a CityLab article, Ooho! water orbs made by the Skipping Rocks Lab will become a future recycling innovation by cutting out the recycling part to “bottled” water. Instead, water will be held in an edible gelatinous orb. Users can either suck the water out of the orb or swallow the orb entirely, gel casing and all. The best part: these orbs can be made at home, with a “spherification” cooking technique, involving the use of an alginate made from brown algae and calcium chloride. The packaging is cheap at 2 cents a sphere, with the recipe under a Creative Commons license so everyone can make them on their own. Overall, it beats the environmental and economic cost of creating America’s demand of water bottles, which uses more than 17 million barrels of oil a year.

While the little orbs themselves might not seem to be an intuitive, portable drink alternative to the classic water in a bottle, it demonstrates a move towards alternative, green innovations to disrupt our plastic making. The move towards edible and truly biodegradable packaging will help manage current and future recycling streams, moving towards zero waste.