The Ooho edible water bottle, a V&A Object in Focus

Snack on some water, or drink the water and know that its package will biodegrade in a matter of weeks, just like a piece of fruit. The Ooho edible water bottle is a plastic alternative pouch made from fast-growing, sustainable brown seaweed. Curator May Rosenthal-Sloan introduces the innovative product in this Victoria and Albert video from their 2019 FOOD: Bigger than the Plate exhibition.

Developed by Skipping Rocks Lab, a sustainable packaging startup founded by Rodrigo Garcia Gonzalez and Pierre Paslier in 2013, the sachets could replace a variety of single-use containers: Traditional water and beverage bottles, ketchup pouches, take-out condiment cups, and more. From Fast Company:

“If it ends up on the ground, it can either be cleaned up “like leaves,” [Paslier] says, or it will also quickly biodegrade. That’s very different from most compostable plastic, which needs to be in an industrial composting facility to break down. The company’s name, Notpla, stands for “not plastic” but is also a dig at PLA, a corn-based plastic that acts like regular plastic if it ends up in the ocean; algae also uses far fewer resources to produce than corn or some other materials used in plant-based plastic.

They’re also developing the material as a heat sealable film, a net-style produce bag alternative, and a water and grease proofing liner for compostable take-out boxes. What would you create with this biodegradable alternative to plastic?

Related reading in Forbes: London Marathon Runners Were Handed Seaweed Pouches Instead Of Plastic Bottles.

File under zero waste, sustainability, and innovation. Watch these related videos next on TKSST:
• MarinaTex, a bioplastic made from fish waste
• Edible milk-based packaging, an alternative to plastic
• Preserving the Forest of the Sea
• Foraging Seaweed: Harvesting a French Coastal Superfood
• Mycelium packaging, a biodegradable alternative to styrofoam

Plus: More Victoria and Albert videos.