As I am continuously learning more about the dangers of plastics, especially water bottles, I am also learning more about the cutting-edge technology and inventive ideas that are being developed by people who would also like to pitch the plastic and find greener alternatives.
Most recently, I stumbled across a plucky, start-up company that has come up with a clever way of eliminating plastic water bottles entirely.
That’s right—no more plastic bottles! Skipping Rocks Lab, located in London, England, wants to make these health and environmental hazards obsolete by developing the Ooho, a biodegradable and fully edible water blob.
These golf ball-sized globes are made from seaweed extract and look like little blobs of water. You can drink them by tearing a hole into the skin and pouring the water into your mouth or simply consume the globe whole, like a grape or cherry.
Created through a molecular gastronomy technique called spherification, these globes are made the same way the juice-filled balls you find in Boba or Bubble tea are made.
“Where we see a lot of potential for Ooho is outdoor events—festivals, marathons, places where basically there are a lot of people consuming packaging over a very short amount of time.” Pierre-Yves Paslier, Co-Founder and Co-CEO of Skipping Rocks Lab.
Plus, this innovative concept eliminates the need to recycle plastic bottles. Great news, considering our current recycling rate of PET or PETE bottles is only 30.1%. Even better news—the company claims its packaging is cheaper than producing a plastic water bottle.
This breakthrough alone could have a huge, positive impact on the environment when you consider the stats for producing and consuming water in plastic bottles.
Unfortunately, Oohos are not available for us to use just yet, so we will have to rely on our eco-friendly standbys to see us through all our family activities and other outdoor fun this summer.
Skipping Rocks Lab is currently crowdsourcing funds for the Ooho and market testing it at events as a substitute for plastic bottles. You can visit their website to learn more about this ingenious product and the company’s mission to make packaging disappear.
What are some of the ways you avoid drinking water from plastic bottles? Share your tips on banning the bottle in the comments below.Resources:
I love this idea, but I’m curious how they package the OOHO for delivery… I’ll check their website…
My daughter came home for a visit this weekend from college. She told me that she made these liquid blobs in one of her labs. She was very excited about the concept and was thinking of endless ways to use them. She’s in school to become a food engineer, and she wants to find new ways for clean, healthy food consumption. This is right up her alley.
If they decompose at different rates, they would be awesome for the garden! >^,,^<
How about just not using plastic bottles – is that so hard? I haven’t used a plastic water bottle for many years and there is absolutely nothing that I miss about them. If you’re still buying bottled water, you’re not only causing a crazy amount of waste for no reason at all, you are also paying a multi-national corporation for something that should be free!
This blob is a better idea than using plastic bottles, but nothing beats a glass of water from the tap.
Great point, John! Thanks for sharing.
I run half marathons and other events and always cringe at the amount of cups that are thrown away. Often paper, yes, but still. I think this would be great for those kinds of events. For personal use, I agree, non-plastic reusable bottles all the way.
Not sure where you live, John, but most tap water tastes horrible with everything that goes into it to make it “clean”. I used to live in the Tampa area of Florida. Both houses I owned had well water. Now that was good tasting tap water. I filled up my 1 gallon water container for work outdoors. In San Diego, I don’t know which is worse for you, tap water or bottled water except for the bottle. I would love to see these blobs make their way to America and offered in larger sizes…ones you could stick a stainless steel straw into and enjoy.
Most communities in North America have good tap water, and many bottled water companies are simply bottling tap water! https://www.nrdc.org/stories/truth-about-tap (and taste is not an indicator of cleanliness – many toxic or carcinogenic chemicals are in levels too low to taste)
My municipal water was untreated until a couple of years ago. Now, just to take some of the tap-taste out of the water, we use a brita filter, and fill our steel water bottles from it. Our public schools are moving towards filters on their water fountains, so that students can have chilled, filtered water in their reusable water bottles. I know that I would be frustrated if I lived in a city with bad water, but I’d still move towards filters rather than ever buying plastic bottles.
Less plastic and waste in general really for so much! Can’t wait to see it further develop! Thanks for sharing Amy!
I take my water bottle with me EVERY where I go these days (about 2 1/2 years now)! It has become an extension of me, basically. That means I don’ t have to drink from plastic water bottles unless I am in a REAL pinch. If I do have to drink from a water bottle I crush the bottle down and take it home with me to recycle. I love being more conscientious of mine and my family’s impact on the Earth. <3
This is such an awesome idea!! I can’t wait to try them once they’re out. But yeah, I wonder about how they deliver and store them.
I use metal water bottles filled with filtered water from the faucet. I rarely buy plastic bottles anymore.
I love this idea! We really need an alternative for runs and festivals – I hope it progresses quickly.
Sounds interesting
Seaweed is making the headlines these days, in terms of a food source, and now water containers for water! In looking at all of the Norwex Movement posts, I’m concerned about the toxins that may be in the seaweed that humans are harvesting for consumption. It’s all such a delicate cycle, and we need to ramp up our efforts on stopping pollution and garbage. I hope that we, as a whole, can move forward fast enough to remedy our negative ecological impact on the planet and not be caught up in consumerism.
Wow! Fantastic!
I love to fill a reusable water bottle. I have started filling it the night before work. That way I am less likely to purchase a bottle water or pop. Adding lemon, strawberries, cucumber is a great way to ad that great taste to water.
I want to try one of those! I am going to talk to my husband about investing in them!!!
I must go see what came of this
I bring my reusable water container with me everywhere and I use water from those large jugs at the water depot. We have 2 containers where we wash and sanitize and reuse at the depot.
I wish companies would stop making single use water bottles. Reusable ones are so easy to get now so there is no reason for the single use ones. We learned to bring our reusable grocery bags so we can bring our reusable water bottles too.
Laura, we couldn’t agree more. As our generation slowly learns to make changes like the ones you’re making, the next generation will accept these better habits as “normal” (we hope!) Keep setting that great example!